Earlier the drain was supposed to be reconstructed with a budget of Rs 7 crore which has not jumped over three fold,upto Rs 22 crore.
The drain carries all waste water of Kotkapura town, with a population of over 1 lakh.
Raghbir Singh Brar
Faridkot
The 40 years old link drain which carries the sewerage water of Kotkapura town to a link drain, falling into Langhewala drain needs reconstruction.
The drain runs about 5 kilometres along the Devi Wala to Kotkapura link road and has all the agriculture area on its left side.
The drain not only damages the crops when it gets broken in the rainy season, but its leaking to the road also breaks the link road.
Though some length of the drain has been cleaned, but yet is not all cleaned.
The way of cleaning the small drain is also problematic.It is being cleaned by using the JCB which further damages the walls of the crumbling drain.
“A few days ago, the drain water rushed into my fields where I had transplanted paddy.The dirty chemical laced waste water flew into my fields.It is not that it has broken first time, every rainy season,it gets broken from some or other place. When my fields were free after wheat harvesting, I wanted the concerned officials to do some earth work to strengthen its patris.But due to some reason,nobody did any work on it,” said Jaswinder Singh, a farmer who has his land adjoining to the drain near Kotkapura.
“Half of the length of the drain has been cleaned, but cleaning by JCB is in itself a problem because the bricks are falling off when it is cleaned,” said Jaswinder Singh.
He also demanded that the route of the drain can be diverted along with the National highway 15 and it can be led to the Langhewala drain there.
If its route is changed, it can have permanent solutions because there is a natural slope towards that direction,said Jaswinder Singh.
MC Kotkapura president Bhupinder Singh Saggu speak
“Yes the drain is very old and was constructed in 1985.Earlier, the sewerage and water supply of the town was with sewerage board and as the public complaints were not resolved, we have overtaken it in October 2024.We have already passed resolution for its construction in the house and recommended it many times.Earlier, it was supposed to be constructed with a budget of Rs 7 crore,then it continued to go up,first to Rs 11,then 14 crore and now its estimate cost for reconstruction has been calculated at Rs 22 crore.The officers told that estimate has been approved by the government and we hope that work on it may be started after this rainy season,” said Bhupinder Singh Saggu,president of the municipal committee Kotkpaura.
He said that the work would be done by the Punjab sewerage board as the local committee does not have any resources.
