Surface water pipeline project spells trouble for residents, commuters

The work on laying the 98-km surface water pipeline project has left residents across the city harassed and gasping for breath in middle of the monsoons. It has turned various areas into living nightmares.

One of the most sordid examples being the Mall road stretch, near Manbro Chowk, where work is in progress. Among the most scenic and posh areas of the city earlier — it is now reduced to an eyesore dotted with massive pipelines and potholes — making commuters a harried lot for the past over two months now.

Official Speak

The work on Mall Road was stopped due to rains. The work will start again tomorrow. It will take a month for the completion of the work on this stretch. The pipes lying on Manbro Chowk Road will be removed. Work will also start shortly on six new roads for which the project has been allocated. The construction of roads, dug up earlier, had to be stopped after the onset of monsoon. Despite this, we are working on the project with speed. The project work is expected to be completed in a record time if there are no further hurdles.

Padamdeep Singh, SDO, Department of Water Supply and Sanitation

Earlier, irked over dust clouds during dry summers, monsoons have aggravated problems for residents as the stretch is dotted with potholes. At present, massive pipes for the surface water project have been carelessly laid around diagonally on the road, which block movement of vehicles, causing massive traffic jams.

Areas formerly dug up under the surface water project, include Nakodar Road, Workshop Chowk Road, Kapurthala Road, Mitthu Basti, Dhilwan, BSF Chowk and Lyallpur Khalsa Road.

Six more roads in the district will also be dug up for laying the pipeline. The surface water project started in the year 2021. Roads dug up earlier under the project met the same fate as sewer pipelines burst and other development works got stalled. The deadline for the completion of the project is December 31.

Harassed vendors and residents are at times forced to use buckets to flush out water from huge potholes, especially when heavy rain lashes the city.

Earlier, frequent traffic jams due to work of the surface water pipeline project held up movement of vehicles on Nakodar Road, especially on the stretch near Ravidas Chowk, forcing commuters to opt for Mall Road route to reach their respective destinations. This caused a heavy traffic rush in the area, which relatively faced no such issues before.

Shashi Chawla, a commuter, who regularly takes the Mall road stretch said, “Development projects are fine, but no one keeps record of the damage such works inflict in a certain area. From a beautiful, scenic stretch, the road has now turned into an eyesore. I drive daily in a cloud of dust or in ankle deep puddles on this road. Once it was among the smoothest road in the city. Now, my car requires fortnightly repairs. Residents are expected to put up with this trouble without any warning or plan, just at the whims of officials. On top of this, huge pipes block the road. Officials are actually destroying the city’s beauty in the name of development.”

Mukesh, who has been running a golgappa stall right outside Manbro Supermarket for the past 22 years, says, “Our business has taken a nose dive due to this mess. People used to crowd my stall all the times. Now, no one wants to come to this road. An MC vehicle sprays water in summers so that dust remains settled on dry days. No one wants to eat golgappas on which dust has settled. We ourselves began spraying water on the road to encourage customers to come to this area. In monsoons, however, there is water everywhere. This is the worst time I’ve seen ever since I started business here.”

Another vendor, who runs a corn cob stall on the Nakodar road, a stretch affected by the project, says, “Higher ups plan projects, but no one thinks of the impact these will have on the man in the street. For the past one month, the conditions on the Nakodar road have gone from bad to worse. Due to mounds of dug up soil accumulated on the roadside, many people have stopped using this stretch. The road has been levelled, but the ride is still bumpy. On certain days, the road gets dry and there is dust everywhere. And when it rains, the road is full of sludge, which hinders movement of vehicles and pedestrians.”