Nurpur sewerage project on halt for over a year, cost up by Rs 6.81 cr

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, March 12

The work on the multi-crore sewerage project in the town has been halted due to paucity of funds and delay in requisite forest clearance for laying the underground pipeline for over a year now.

Initially, the project was to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 15.83 crore. However, the work has been completed in only three of the nine wards of the Municipal Council (MC) during the past 16 years.

Resentment prevails among locals over slow pace of construction work. The residents, who have started building their new houses, are in a dilemma whether to spend money on the construction of underground sewerage tanks for toilets or wait for the connections.

Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of Ward Number - 3, said after waiting for two years, he had constructed his own underground septic tank by spending from his own pocket, which would be wasted after the sewerage project was completed in his locality.

The foundation stone of the project was laid by then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on April 11, 2007. It is being executed by the Irrigation and Public Health (renamed as Jal Shakti) Department and was set to be completed by 2011. However, the successive governments allegedly failed to allocate adequate funds for the project. As a result, its detailed project report (DPR) was prepared again in 2015, with the cost escalating to Rs 22 crore and the IPH Department extended its deadline to 2017, which again could not be achieved due to lack of funds.

Official sources say around 70 per cent project work has been completed in Zone C (ward numbers 7, 8 and 9) in the past five years and the department has started giving sewerage connections. Intriguingly, a large number of residents are still reluctant to avail the facility.

Amit Dogra, Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti Division, Nurpur, says the department has submitted an additional DPR of Rs 6.81 crore to the state government in February last year but it was returned with some observations. “The department has again submitted an updated DPR and is expecting its approval in the ensuing annual budget of 2023-24,” he added.

Dogra said approval under the Forest Conservation Act was also required for laying the underground sewage pipeline in some forest area in the town and the case was under consideration of the Regional Office of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.

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