Clogged sewers are Bathinda’s bane
BATHINDA: Bathinda is no different from any other Punjab city when it comes to waterlogging menace. Even a moderate spell of rain is enough to submerge several parts of the city. Though the issue is not new to low-lying areas, other parts of Bathinda also bore the brunt this year, courtesy: No desilting of clogged sewer lines and lack of storm drains.
Encroachment around the city’s five buffer ponds, coupled with the non-clearance of silt in them, became another contributor to this perennial issue.
Bathinda MC commissioner Rishi Pal Singh blames the private firm, Triveni Constructions, which is responsible for maintenance of sewerage system, for the mismanagement.
Firm’s general manager VB Shivangi claims that Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board had assigned them the work of maintaining desilited sewer lines, but handed over the choked lines. MC pays ₹6 crore every year to the board to get such works done through the private firm. Board’s executive engineer Shiv Das Kansal says he will look into the issue.
However, MC officials claim that one rainwater pond has been desilted, effect of which is visible in the adjoining areas. A sewerage and water supply project worth ₹188 crore is stalled due to lack of funds. Rishi Pal says they would have to secure loans to resume the work.
Sirki Bazaar, Power House Road, Civil Lines area, besides Mall Road, Paras Ram Nagar and periphery of the District
The lowlying areas are worst hit and nondesilting of sewer lines by the private firm has aggravated the problem. We will hire professionals to evolve a permanent solution. RISHI PAL SINGH, MC commissioner Bathinda
Administrative Complex are the worsthit spots where water gets accumulated up to three feet following a heavy downpour. A trader in Sirki Bazaar, Shashi Kumar, rues, “Many a time we had to shut our shops for three consecutive days due to deluge.”
Another businessman Mahesh Kumar says, “I have been witnessing this for three decades..”
The MC on Thursday took the onus of desilting the sewer lines during a meeting of finance and contract committee. Punjab finance minister and Bathinda (urban) MLA Manpreet Singh Badal has sanctioned funds for the same, and the MC will also be pooling in.