Brouhaha over overlapping network of drains being spread by the Road Construction Department across various municipal wards of Ranchi and the system of drains proposed under the sewerage-drainage system in the city seems to have put brakes on construction work until coordination is established between the RCD and the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC).
A meeting to synchronise construction activities is on cards following several question marks raised over the viability of the RCD’s work. The massive construction work that sapped a part of `125-crore of the RCD’s budget meant for road and drains along major roads has created a confusion regarding integration of the ongoing infrastructure work with the sewerage-drainage system of the city. lately, the RMC swung into action as it awarded the letter of intent to Jyoti Build Tech Private limited for zone-1 of the sewerage-drainage system.
“No work will be done without proper coordination with the Road Construction Department. We have issued letter of intent, then agreement will be signed, work order will be issued and the question of coordination will come up later,” said Minister, Urban Development, CP Singh.
The infrastructure company had conveyed its desire to start construction work from October 2, when Managing Director of the company, Charanjeet Singh, had received letter of intent from the Minister. Notwithstanding the desire to do so, a meeting to evolve consensus between the RCD and RMC is unlikely to be called before October 2. The RCD and RMC are likely to meet in the first week of October to find out a middle path out of the jumbled responsibility of the sewerage-drainage line.
“We (RCD and RMC) are going to hold discussions on October 4-5 and we will build a consensus to work jointly at composite places,” said Deputy Mayor of RMC, Sanjeev Vijaywargiya.
The Deputy Mayor confided that besides himself the meeting would be attended by Town Commissioner and other senior functionaries of the RMC and RCD.
Although, the construction work appears to have come to a near standstill, excavation work for the RCD’s project is still going at proposed sites in the city. Interestingly, the belated realisation of working jointly for a joint asset would necessitate dismantling a part of the work done on widening the existing and making new drains along major roads. Executive Engineer of RCD, Ranchi Division JP Singh was not available when the pioneer attempted to know the present status of the drain construction project.
Notably, the zone-1 of the proposed sewerage-drainage work would cover around 27sqkm spanning eight municipal wards incidentally the areas where the RCD has spilled money for making drains under their command.