SATISH HANDA
According to information, out of total number of 833 drains in Haryana state 588 drains have been found defective causing heavy loss rto public property due to overflowing water during rainy season. Chief Minister Haryana Manohar Lal Khatter while talking to media persons said that in ‘Vision-2030’complete plan has been prepared by the state government to develop proper drainage system according to increase in population as well as developmental programmes by the government in every town in the state when these drains start overflowing during rainy season every years due to lack of maintenance and blockage due to garbage thrown in these drains. He said, there are nearly 522 temporary points identified in the state causing damage to private properties due to overflowing rain water in drains during monsoon season every year, which would be modified prior to next rainy season he assured. Khatter told that there is proposal for construction of recharging shafts at various places in Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Ratia in the state adversely affected during rainy season.
Information reveals, amount worth Rs 132 crore was spent over 143 schemes in recent past some time which provided no relief to the people as observed during recent rains when water entered into residential as well as commercial places even after slight rain due to poor drainage system n-spite of spending huge amount. According to experts, no improvement has been made in drainage system since past about five decades after formation of Haryana state when population witnessed drastic increase in this period, besides large number of unauthorized residential colonies illegally developed by land mafias as well as construction of large number of unauthorized buildings having no provision for drainage of water released from these structures. Sadly, in-spite of developments no steps were taken to update old drainage system, regular cleaning of drains and increase the capacity of disposal centres, repairs to pump sets lying out of order till entire water disposal system collapsed.
Sometime ago in a joint campaign to improve condition of as many as 18 major drains in the state, various departments including Irrigation & Water Resources, Local Urban Body, PWD (B&R), National Highway Authority of India and Indian Railways jointly decided to improve condition of drains but to no result. A survey by Municipal Corporations in several towns revealed that large numbers of drains were found illegally encroached and drain water from unauthorized residential colonies was seen thrown in the drains in approved colonies thus worsening situation during rainy season. According to experts, drainage system can only solved when proper care is taken while developing a colony, care should be taken to see the direction of land level before construction of drain, the master plan should be strictly followed when developing a colony, there should be no construction at low lying area or near a pond and there is no possibility for proper drainage system.
