Main sewage line in Panipat caves in 7th time

The sewage line from the Babail naka to the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Sewah village on the Sector 25 bypass in Panipat caved in for the seventh time in the last 1.5 years, on Sunday evening. Notably, the same line had also caved in four times in Sector-29 Part-2 here.

7.5-km line Was commissioned in 2000

• The Public Health Department started laying this main sewage line in 1995. It was commissioned in 2000 and is around 7.5 km long.
• The sewers of almost half of the town, including 17 wards, have been attached with it.
• The sewage line was designed around 30 years ago as per the population of that time.
• Besides, untreated effluents having high levels of chemicals are being illegally discharged into sewers by dyeing units.

Rajesh Kaushik, Executive Engineer, Panipat Municipal Corporation, said that the sewage line was very old. He said officials visited the cave-in site to take stock of the situation.

“The repair work of the line will start tomorrow after diverting the sewage flow,” said the XEn.

Sources said the Public Health Department had started laying this line in 1995. It was commissioned in 2000 and is around 7.5 km long.

The sewers of almost half of the town, including 17 wards here, are attached with this main line.

Panipat is an industrial town and hundreds of dyeing units are operational in Sector-29 part-2 and scattered across the city. Scores of them illegally discharge their chemical-laced effluents into the sewers.

But, with time, these sewage lines got weakened and caved in many times.

Coporation officials said that the main reason behind the caving-in of this sewage line multiple times in a year was that it had outlived its utility. Besides, they said, untreated effluents having high levels of chemicals were being illegally discharged into sewers by dyeing units.

He said the Public Health Department had designed the sewers with a running capacity of 50 per cent in mind, keeping the rest of the space for gases that developed inside.

“The sewage line was designed around 30 years ago as per the population of that time but now the population has increased, due to which the load on these sewers has also increased,” the official asserted.

Rajesh Kaushik, XEn, MC, said that the sewer had completed its life span. The line was around 25 years old and had been damaged at several points.

A detailed project of the sewerage line of around 7.5 km rom Babail Naka to the Sewage Treatment Plant is also under consideration and after preparing the project, it would be sent to the Urban Local Bodies headquarters for approval, said XEn Kaushik.