Bathinda MC eyes central funds for stormwater management

BATHINDA

The Bathinda municipal corporation (MC) is eyeing central development funds to mitigate the chronic problem of flooding.

The urban body has started drafting a blueprint for conducting a hydrological survey to lay a new network of dedicated stormwater drainage system.

Officials said the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC), a non-profit organisation of the state government’s department of local government, has been taken into loop for the ambitious project.

PMIDC is the state-level nodal agency for central-funded projects such as JNNURM, AMRUT, Smart City and Swachh Bharat Mission.

The choked and overflowing sewage system is a regular feature in Bathinda and the administration of the largest urban local body of the southwest Punjab admit that there is no permanent solution to the menace in the existing drainage system.

Officials say the absence of a stormwater network has led to mixing of solid waste and city sewer in the same drain.

Even light to moderate showers for a couple of hours inundate several areas of the city every year in the want of organised disposal of stormwater.

No city in Punjab has a separate stormwater system.

Municipal commissioner Rahul said the problem of city flooding lies with unplanned and haphazard growth in the last 10-15 years when sand dunes were levelled to boost urbanisation.

He said the city’s drainage capacity is full and any additional inflow of rainwater spills the drains. The new network would involve funds and the local body plans financial support for the same, he added.

“Bathinda has a unique development problem in Punjab. The old city was developed in a bowl shape topography where rainwater from streets used to flow in the ponds created in low-lying areas. When the city started witnessing growth, new road networks were created in raised locations that disturbed the natural water-flowing system which resulted in frequent flooding in several parts of the city,” he said.

“All kinds of liquid waste flow in a common drain network and result in frequent choking. Cleaning of drains is a hectic operation,” he added.

In-house study says that Bathinda requires an exclusive stormwater system where rainwater is collected in wells to be built at the identified spots, he added.

“The collected water would be pumped into large diameter drain through the network of arterial drains. The hydrological survey will help us to shape the ambitious project needed for the long-term development of the growing city,” he added.