Nurpur sewerage project hangs fire for want of funds, forest clearance

Rajiv Mahajan 

Nurpur, April 11

The work on a multi-crore sewerage project in Nurpur town, which was to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 15.83 crore, has come to a halt due to the lack of funds and the requisite forest clearance. 

The work has been completed only in three of nine wards of the Municipal Council (MC). Its detailed project report (DPR) has been revised twice in the past seven years.

The project is being executed by the Irrigation and Public Health (re-named Jal Shakti) Department the foundation stone of which was laid by the then CM Virbhadra Singh on April 11, 2007. Initially, its estimated cost was Rs 15.83 crore. The execution of the project was handed over to the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department. The department had set its completion target by 2011. However, the successive governments allegedly failed to allocate adequate funds for the project. As a result, its DPR was prepared again in 2015 with an escalated cost to Rs 22 crore and the IPH Department extended its completion target by 2017, which could not be achieved due to the lack of funds. 

Official sources say around 80 per cent of the work of the project has been completed. The work has been completed in zone C in the past four years and the department has started giving sewerage connections. Intriguingly, a large number of residents are still reluctant to avail of the facility. 

Amit Dogra, Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti division, Nurpur, says that the department has prepared a revised DPR of Rs 25 crore of the project and applied for no-objection certificates under the Forest Conservation Act.