Jalandhar: Blocked sewers, lost water bodies worsen rain blues

While the ongoing work on a plethora of smart city and other urban development projects are ideally intended to make the lives of commuters and citizens better, a few days of monsoon spell in Jalandhar have proven that the water inundation problem in the smart city is only getting worse with every passing year.

One of the underlying causes for the large scale havoc wreaked by rain is the unplanned development of the city, the conversion of many rural lands into urban areas and the resultant closing up of water bodies, rivulets and drains, which once frequented these areas. Due to drainage water ways overtaken by development, many areas witnessed unprecedented waterlogging every year, because the water does not have any outlet.

Additionally, the non-cleaning of sewer lines is also attributed to the monsoon chaos in the city.

Over 30 areas of Jalandhar which were earlier villages or lay in the outskirts have already been incorporated within the MC limits. Twelve such villages, including Sofi Pind, Rehmanpur, Aladinpur, Hallotaali, Alipur, Sansarpur, Dheena, Nangal Karar Khan, Khusropur, Subhana, Khambran and Pholriwal, were included in city limits in 2017 alone.

The government’s plans to develop six more villages as Urban Estate Phase 3 — Kukkad Pind, Rehmanpur, Alipur, Nangal Karar Khan, Kotla Kalan and Kotla Khurd are a further step in this direction.

Just a few days of rains have wreaked havoc in the city, with water entering into homes, factories, schools, etc. posing much inconvenience to residents and commuters. The monsoon mess has been aggravated by the factors like the lack of a proper storm water drainage system in the city coupled with the construction site rubble and wastes mixing with the water and garbage and sewage mingling with accumulated rain water on streets.

Balraj Thakur, Councillor, Ward number 32, said, “We have been taking up these issues for long. As much as 85 per cent of the 1,100 km sewer line of the city ferries water towards the Pholariwal Sewage Treatment Plant and 15 per cent to other areas like the Jaitewali and Basti Bawa Khel STPs. Even the heavily built Rama Mandi belt’s sewer line is routed towards the Pholariwal STP. This massive burden on one STP is flawed. Due to lack of cleaning and upkeep of such a huge stretch of pipeline, there is water accumulation issues."

BJP leader Manorajan Kalia said, “The prime reason for the water accumulation mess is the lack of cleaning of the city sewers by suction machines before monsoons. This is not done by the government and MC officials which causes inundations in the city. The covering up of existing water bodies and drains is also an additional reason."

MC Commissioner Gautam Jain said, “All low-lying areas are under the MC’s close watch and are being cleared of water. The lack of storm water drainage system also adds to the waterlogging issues. Plans to lay such system are afoot. Tenders and estimates had also been passed for desilting and cleaning of sewer lines for which suction pumps, jetting machines, etc. have been procured by the MC. The tenders and estimates were cleared by June end, but until then monsoons had arrived. Three sewer men per ward have also been deputed. A new 75 to 100 MLD STP has also been planned for Jalandhar. These measures will address waterlogging problems effectively.”

Jalandhar