City nalas left unsilted as GHMC delays payments
Just about 40 per cent of the city’s nalas have been desilted this year, even as the monsoon is upon us, down from about 56 per cent in the last two years. This could result in inundated roads and lowlying colonies.
This is the outcome of the GHMC delaying payments to contractors, who are keeping away from the desilting work.
Earlier, desilting was a pre-monsoon affair that began in April and ended in May. On grounds that silt has been choking free flow of water in the nalas even when there are no rains, the civic body decided to conduct desilting of nalas throughout the year.
Surprisingly, the GHMC, which managed to carry out 55.87 per cent nala desilting during the two pre-monsoon months during 2017, has removed only 39.18 per cent of silt after introducing annual nala desilting. The change, apparently, has not served any purpose.
Unlike removal of encroachments, desilting works face no resistance from either citizens or public representatives. But it is the civic body apathy which is delaying the desilting.
A senior GHMC official, on condition of anonymity, admitted that contractors and engineers were deliberately shying away from nala desilting work. He claimed that the contractors have been resorting to this for seeking specific relaxations in desilting works, which would benefit them.
Admitting that there has been a certain delay, the official said desilting has picked up pace only in the month of May. They have managed to desilt 2.23 lakh cubic metres of sludge in a record time, against 2.45 lakh cubic metres sludge removed last year.
The official maintained that desilting works on
256 drains with an estimated cost of `44.45 crore have been completed. “Till date, 221.04 km of storm water drains have been desilted using machinery. Silt from
663.11 km of drains has been removed manually, totalling 884.15 km of desilted drains in the city,” he said.
However, he pointed out that silt removed is very less when compared to the previous year. This could increase the intensity of inundation with the onset of the monsoon. The civic body official also admitted that there has been a delay in payments due to various factors. The same has been brought to the notice of state government, which has assured that a permanent solution will be found at the earliest.