High Court slams Zirakpur civic body over sewage mess
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has expressed strong disapproval over the “sorry state of affairs” and “adhocism” adopted by the Zirakpur Municipal Council in handling the town’s worsening sewerage mess, while warning that the present approach would “aggravate the situation in future”.
Directing urgent intervention, Justice Kuldeep Tiwari’s Bench ordered the Secretary, Department of Local Bodies, Punjab, to constitute a high-level committee of stakeholders and experts to draw up a scientifically sound and sustainable roadmap for resolving the crisis.
The Bench was hearing a petition filed against the state of Punjab through its Secretary, Department of Local Bodies, by one Avtar Singh. Justice Tiwari’s Bench, during the course of hearing, observed that the photographs placed on record – and not disputed by the authorities – revealed widespread stagnation of sewage and rainwater in and around residential colonies in Zirakpur, prompting the court to take serious note of the ground realities. The situation, the court noted, had led to immense hardships for the inhabitants and exposed alarming gaps in the town’s basic civic infrastructure.
The Bench also referred to a written statement filed by the respondent authorities, admitting the plight of residents while citing inadequate sewerage channels as the cause. It stated that natural drains of erstwhile villages—now subsumed into Zirakpur’s urban sprawl—were earlier sufficient but had now become grossly inadequate due to rapid expansion. A project was initiated to lay sewer lines, but the work was stalled due to the need to cross the Zirakpur-Patiala road, for which the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) concurrence was pending.
Justice Tewari took note of the fact that the NHAI had now granted conditional permission to proceed. The Bench, at the same time, described the Municipal Council’s response as lacking both in vision and execution. “The written statement reflects the sorry state of affairs inasmuch as the natural channels, which could only be used for the flow of rainwater, have now been converted into sewage drains, and that too, without installing a sewage treatment plant,” Justice Tiwari observed.
The Bench added that the measures proposed by the civic body appeared to be inadequate “as the same do not reflect as to whether any scientific study was undertaken with regard to the future needs. The entire response was a “knee-jerk reaction” aimed solely at addressing the grievance in the present petition, rather than a long-term plan.
Calling for systemic rectification, Justice Tiwari directed that the proposed high-level committee must include representatives from all relevant departments and members of the Punjab Pollution Control Board. It could include experts from reputed institutions. The committee was required to re-examine the issue comprehensively and devise a long-term, implementable sewerage and drainage plan.
“It is expected that the Secretary, Department of Local Bodies, would also keep in mind that the natural choes are res communis. Therefore, the authority cannot utilise it for discharge of sewage. Moreover, apt measures be also taken to ensure that the natural choes are protected, so as to cater the flow of natural water especially in the rainy season,” Justice Tiwari asserted.
Chandigarh