What’s flooding Badshahpur drain? GMDA officials to physically check for illegal links
GURUGRAM: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) said that its enforcement wing will start checking the Badshahpur drain manually from next week to detect any illegally connected sewer lines flowing into it. GMDA officials said that if found, such connections will not only be disconnected but police action will also be initiated against those responsible. Connecting sewer lines directly into any drain is an offence as per the Environment Protection Act and a person can be heavily fined by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB).
Lalit Arora, chief engineer, GMDA, said, “There is a possibility of illegal sewer connections into the drain. To check them, our team will have to open chambers and disconnect connections— since this is almost a covered drain—from next week.”
This is a 27 km-long natural drain that should carry seasonal rainwater. It starts in the Aravallis at Ghata village near Sector 55/56 and passes through the city to meet the Najafgarh drain at the northern Delhi border.
At the 12km mark, the drain (officially known as Drain No. Leg 3 in the GMDA records) gets its first discharge of 100 million litres daily (MLD) recycled water from the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Sector 72 and 50 MLD discharge from the STP at Dhanwapur in Sector 4 leading to Najafgarh drain.
A team appointed in September 2018 by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which is monitoring the sewage disposal of the city for the past four years, measured the discharge quantity of
Badshahpur drain to find it was 348 MLD and of bad quality.
A senior GMDA official, familiar with the matter, said, “The drain’s 25km portion is fully covered and it is very difficult to check illegal connections, which is possible only if we open every manhole and have our men enter them to physically check, which is not only a marathon task but also risky. However, there is no other way to do it.”
According to a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) official, who was part of the team that measured quantity but is not authorised to talk to media, said, “The drain/Leg 3 should discharge only 150 to 170 MLD recycled water to the Najafgarh drain. But it is discharging 348 MLD daily. This shows the city has been discharging untreated sewage into the drain directly, unchecked by the government agencies. The NGT has strictly asked the Haryana government to control quantity and quality both, before December 31, 2019, to avoid heavy penalty against officials responsible.”
The city’s two other natural drains (Leg 1 and Leg 2) which are open drains and carry a huge amount of untreated sewage daily also merge into the Badshahpur drain near Sector 107 along the Dwarka Expressway.
›
Checking of illegal connections is possible only if we open every manhole and have our men enter and check the drain.
SENIOR GMDA OFFICIAL