J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Drain bane: Holy town in a mess
Sultanpur Lodhi, September 30
The condition of the sewerage and drainage system in the holy town of Sultanpur Lodhi is deplorable. Despite being a holy town, at least one-fifth of the total localities in the 13 wards in the jurisdiction of the Sultanpur Lodhi municipal council (MC) are without any sewerage. In other words, no sewerage has been laid so far in about 2 sq km area of the total 10 sq km covered by the MC.

Dirty Act
Head constable among 4 held for killing of home guard volunteer
Hoshiarpur, September 30
The Garhshankar police today arrested head constable Gurdial Singh (No. 179), constable Balkar Singh (No. 781), both of Hoshiarpur, and Bahadur Singh and Surjit Singh, both Punjab home guards jawans (Nos. 26756 and 26733) in connection with the killing of home guards jawan Tarsem Singh, son of Malook Singh of Allowal under Balachaur police station. The decomposed body of Tarsem Singh was recovered in the fields of Samundra village, near Garhshankar, on September 24, 2008.

Left in ‘cold’, PR dept cries for care
Hoshiarpur, September 30
Once considered the backbone of the state government and its most important wing to establish liaison between it and the public, the Punjab public relations (PR) department has lost its glory on account of its complete neglect by the authorities as well as its minister.

Seminar on citizen rights
Mukerian, September 30
To raise civic consciousness among the masses, a Dasuya-based NGO held a seminar on “Challenges before Indian Democracy” at Guru Gobind Singh College of Education, Kamlooh, on Monday.

Drain bane: Holy town in a mess
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Open sewer at Railway Station Mohalla in Sultanpur Lodhi poses a grave threat to the health of residents. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Sultanpur Lodhi, September 30
The condition of the sewerage and drainage system in the holy town of Sultanpur Lodhi is deplorable. Despite being a holy town, at least one-fifth of the total localities in the 13 wards in the jurisdiction of the Sultanpur Lodhi municipal council (MC) are without any sewerage. In other words, no sewerage has been laid so far in about 2 sq km area of the total 10 sq km covered by the MC.

According to a survey conducted by The Tribune, several localities, including Railway Station Mohalla, Central Town, Baba Jawala Singh Nagar, Bebe Nanki Nagar, Model Town and Sukh Encalve are without any sewerage.

Veena Rani of Central Town says the residents of this locality are forced to live in hellish conditions in the absence of any sewerage. Similar is the condition of the residents of other localities where no sewerage has been laid.

The Tribune team found several pigs moving in a pond where sewage water accumulated in Station Mohalla.

Sultanpur Lodhi initially got proper sewerage and water facilities in 1969 on the occasion of the fifth birth centenary of Guru Nanak Dev, says Jaimal Singh who remained MC president for 15 consecutive years. No sewerage had been laid in the town since then, he added.

Jaimal Singh says the sewerage laid in 1969 remained sufficient for the residents of Sultanpur Lodhi and there was no sewerage-related problem about two decades back. However, with the passage of time, the population of this tiny town had increased a lot, he added.

As a result, several new localities have come up during these years where no sewerage facility could be provided.

Admitting that nearly 20 per cent of the localities in Sultanpur Lodhi are without any sewerage, MC executive officer (EO) Baljit Singh Bilga says the MC has no funds to lay sewerage.

At the same time, he says an estimate of Rs 4.66 lakh has been sent to the local bodies department for laying sewerage. As soon as the MC gets funds, the work will be started.

The EO is hopeful of getting funds from the newly constituted development authority.

Besides, the sewage or rainwater accumulates for several hours due to improper drainage system in several localities, including Mauri Mohalla and the localities around the bus stand, old civil hospital and Singh Bhawani Mandir.

Jagjit Singh Dogra of Dograya Mohalla says the problem of overflowing sewage aggravates during power cuts as the motors installed at the sewerage treatment plant (STP) stops pumping out sewage in the absence of any generator.

Besides, the sewerage remains choked several times as the residents do not hesitate to dump polythene and other unwanted material into the sewer pipes and the MC usually does not do any desiltation of these pipes to remove them. Similarly, narrow sewer pipes are also one of the reasons of accumulation of sewage and rainwater in several localities, says SAD councillor Shiv Kumar Kanaujia.

Kanaujia says there is a dire need to replace the narrow sewer pipes and time-to-time desiltation is also required.

Former MC chief Jaimal Singh claims the desiltation of the sewer lines was done in 2007 with his active efforts.

Meanwhile, MC vice-president Jaspal Singh Cheema says he will try to get the maximum work of laying sewerage in new localities done on priority basis.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sultanpur Lodhi MC does not have even a single sewer man. In the absence of any sewer man, the work of cleansing sewer pipes from time to time is adversely affected. EO Baljit Singh Bilga says the MC has sent a proposal to local bodies department about requirement of at least eight sewer men but no sanction has been given yet.

Former MC chief Jaimal Singh says earlier there were four sewer men on contract basis but they were removed after the directions of the local bodies department. Following which, the Chief Minister constituted a committee last year after the continuous efforts of Jaimal Singh for recommendations of streamlining the sewer system, he added.

The committee, headed by deputy commissioner J.M. Balamurugan, including then MC chief Jaimal Singh as one of its members, recommended to the state government to sanction at least 10 regular posts of sewer man. The committee also demanded a machine for regular desiltations of sewer pipes. For this purpose, the committee demanded Rs 25 lakh, he added. 

Dirty Act
Head constable among 4 held for killing of home guard volunteer
Our Correspondent

Left in ‘cold’, PR dept cries for care
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, September 30
Once considered the backbone of the state government and its most important wing to establish liaison between it and the public, the Punjab public relations (PR) department has lost its glory on account of its complete neglect by the authorities as well as its minister.

A majority of the posts of district public relation officer (DPRO) and assistant public relation officer (APRO) have been lying vacant in most of the districts as well as at the state headquarters.

According to official sources, out of the 20 districts, only Patiala, Moga, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali and Sangrur have DPROs. The remaining districts have been functioning without DPROs. Twentys-even posts of public relation officer have been lying vacant in the state.

Out of 58 planned posts of the APRO, 33 have been lying vacant since long. All posts of tehsil public relation officer have been abolished. All subdivisions are without APROs.

The sources said no meeting of the departmental promotion committee had been held since 2001. As a result more than 10 APROs had retired without getting their due promotion.

In almost all districts, the respective deputy commissioners had provided computers in the offices of public relations department, which, too, were lying defective.

Seminar on citizen rights

Mukerian, September 30
To raise civic consciousness among the masses, a Dasuya-based NGO held a seminar on “Challenges before Indian Democracy” at Guru Gobind Singh College of Education, Kamlooh, on Monday.

The seminar focused on the rights and duties of citizens. Parliamentary secretary, food and supplies, Punjab, Arunesh Shakar inaugurated the event and stressed on the need of a transparent government. Dr KK Handa said a new constitution is the need of the hour as amendments in the existing one have failed to benefit the deserving. — TNS