Focal Point Extension in a state of mess

Jalandhar, July 29

Potholed roads, no streetlights and overflowing sewage. This is the situation of the civic amenities in Focal Point Extension here that houses 340 industrial plots.

Industrialists fume that they have been paying hefty charges to the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) in the forms of water and sewage levies and to the Municipal Corporation as property tax, but they were not being provided proper amenities. The members rued that their problems compound during the monsoon as the volume of sewer discharge increases and overflows onto the roads, damaging them further.

Rajiv Mittal, who owns a cattlefeed unit and is the treasurer of the Focal Point Extension Association, says: “There are days when we actually need boats to enter our industrial units as the volume of sewer water flowing on roads increases. Smaller vehicles coming for loading and unloading of goods often fall as the drivers cannot see the potholes in the sewage-filled roads.” He further said the area becomes unsafe in the evening as around half of the streetlights were functional.

The members say that they bought units here in 1992, believing that they would get better amenities but were bereft of even basic facilities such as proper sewerage system. The president of the association, Narinder S Saggoo, said: “There are four 16-inch sewer pipes carrying waste water from Focal Point Extension, Gadaipur and Kalia Colony. These pipes merge with another pipe of 16-inch diameter. The design of the pipes laid is faulty, due to which we have been suffering for the past 28 years.”

He added: “We found a glimmer of hope after a meeting with the Jalandhar North MLA, Bawa Henry, and PSIEC XEN recently. We have been told that Rs 3.7 crore tender for a 5.5 MLD sewage treatment plant has been approved. The current sewer discharge is 2 MLD at Focal Point Extension, 1 MLD at Gadaipur and ½ MLD at Kalia Colony. So if the plant with pre-fabricated structures gets functional in six months, our problem will be solved for the next 15 years”.

Several industrialists, including Sharad Aggarwal, Deepak Aggarwal, Rishi Sharma, Jasjit Bedi, Rajiv Gupta, Harvinder Singh, Harjinder Singh, Harish Kalia, Tejinder S Bhasin, Nitin Kapoor and Jasmeet Rana, were present at the meeting.

MLA Henry said: “We are also working to get a contract of super-suction machinery for sewage disposal in the next 15 days or so. The tenders for streetlight, too, have been called and the work order will be issued soon.”