With three prime areas of Haridwar city- Bhupatwala, Har Ki Pauri and central Haridwar which encompasses BHEl area- grappling long with water-logging problem every monsoon, the municipal corporation has floated tenders for cleaning the drains before the rainy season sets in. Notably, the civic body has acted on the instruction of the State Government to find out a permanent solution to the long-continuing problem. It is learnt that the cleaning work would start from next week. The corporation has decided to have the seasonal and the main drains cleaned in one month, informed the officials.
Every year the residents of the city have to face the problem of water logging. The temporary arrangement has been that the rain water is collected in Govind Puri area in big pit to be released in the Ganga canal through pumping facility. Things have eased a bit in some parts of the city after BHEl put into place a watershed which collects much of the rain water.
In all, eight main drains and 107 small drains run through the city which collect the neighbourhood water. It is learnt that the corporation has floated tenders to have 71 of such drains cleaned, a project which would cost an estimated Rs 6.5 crore. Meanwhile, the whole city has been divided into six zones. Zone 1 covers Bhupatwala area with 17 drains, zone 2 covers Devpura with 10 drains, zone 3 covers Ranipur area with 21 drains, zone 4 covers Kadachh Mohalla of Jwalapur with 12 drains, zone 5 covers Aryanagar and Kankhal areas with eight drains and zone 6 Haridwar with three small drains.
The corporation officials have claimed that the encroachments that have come up over the drains would be removed when the drain cleaning works would be taken up. Besides, the eight big seasonal drains located in the Har Ki Pauri area would also be cleaned by Nagar Nigam. For this purpose, the corporation has collected some JCBs, the officials added.
Speaking of the matter, the executive engineer Nagar Nigam Anant Saini said on Friday that the tender process involving cleaning of 71 drains has been initiated. “As we are determined to free the city from the recurring problem of water-logging during the monsoon we would also have the encroachments put up by some businessmen and local vendors over the drains removed before the cleaning process starts,” he said.