Haryana Minister holds meeting with MCG and GMDA to resolve waterlogging woes in Gurugram

Gurugram, April 26 (IANS) Haryana's Industry and Commerce Minister, Rao Narbir Singh, on Saturday, chaired a high-level review meeting with the concerned officials of the measures being taken by Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG) and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to deal with the waterlogging problem during monsoon in Gurugram.

In the meeting, other measures were also discussed to assess the progress so far and to address the challenges.

Addressing the meeting, the Minister said that making Gurugram free from waterlogging is not just a goal but our collective responsibility.

He said that whatever critical points of waterlogging have been identified by the corporation and the authority.

Accountability of the concerned officer should be fixed at each of those points so that necessary action can be taken in case of negligence at any level, he added.

He advised giving priority to the necessary measures for drainage of water and finding a permanent solution to reach the root of the problem.

"The MCG and GMDA should ensure that the measures being taken to deal with waterlogging and its progress report are regularly sent to his office. Both the departments should work together for the places where there is drain inlet mismatch," he said.

Minister Rao directed the concerned officers to ensure cleaning of the small sewerage network on the lines of the drainage system.

The Minister clearly told the officers that it had come to his notice that drinking water was being used for park irrigation in various sectors and residential areas in the city.

In such a situation, the officers should take action against the guilty persons as per the rules and set an example for others, he said.

The Minister also summoned the report on the current status of the functioning of 41 micro-sewage treatment plants (STPs) located in the Municipal Corporation area and directed the officers of the Regional Pollution Control Board to get all the STPs inspected in the next 15 days.

Along with this, he directed the officials to move forward towards getting an FIR registered against those industrial units where STP is not being maintained.

He told the corporation officials to start all the non-functional boosters in the corporation area within the stipulated time.

In the meeting, GMDA officials apprised the Minister about the progress of waterlogging measures and said that desilting work is going on in a 12 km area of storm water drain, which will be completed before June 30.

New cleaning work has also been awarded in second stage, Minister Singh noted.

Similarly, in the cleaning of the sewerage system, 85 km of network has been cleaned so far, and work is going on in 11 km which will be completed in the stipulated period.

Officials said that the tender process is going on for the cleaning of 404 rain water harvesting systems located in the district, in which all rain water harvesting systems will be cleaned by June 10 under the prescribed procedure.

Similarly, 74 per cent of the cleaning work has been completed in the 4,500-metre network of the Master Train from Sector-72A to National Highway-48, they added.

Giving information about the efforts being made for the cleanliness of the pedestrian crossings located on the national highway, Corporation Commissioner Ashok Garg said that the corporation is getting them cleaned.

In the future, an estimate will also be prepared for their maintenance and cleaning. There are currently 41 micro STPs in the corporation area, out of which 28 are working smoothly, he added.

--IANS

str/khz