Ludhiana civic body not to lay damaged sewer pipes after objections by residents

Tribune News Service

Harshraj Singh

Ludhiana, August 6

Residents have raised objections against the poor quality of big sewer pipes which the Municipal Corporation (MC) brought to lay in place of the damaged brick sewer line (dat sewer) at Passi Nagar, here. Collars of most of the sewer pipes are cracked or broken.

Notably, a big pit appeared after a portion of Sua Road caved in near the Post Office at Passi Nagar, here on July 30. The road portion had suddenly caved in when a truck passed over the stretch. The MC later found that its brick sewer line had got damaged, resulting in a cave-in. Now, the work is underway to fix the damaged sewer line.

Sharing concern over the quality of sewer pipes to be laid at Passi Nagar, residents of the area have sought from the civic body authorities to ensure the installation of good quality sewer pipes to avert any mishap in the future. A resident of a nearby area, Narinder Singh Masson said: “Some retired engineers from Punjab Government departments noticed the damaged portions of cemented sewer pipes which the corporation brought to lay there. These sewer pipes seemed to be made of cheap material. If such pipes are laid there, chances of leakage can’t be ruled out. The absence of quality checks would lead to the wastage of public money. These pipes were brought last evening in two trailers.”

“It is deplorable that officials are going ahead with repairs with broken sewer pipes. The matter needs to be seriously investigated. We demand the immediate intervention of the minister concerned and a detailed probe must be ordered,” he added.

A civil engineer, Kapil Arora, said the civic body should not use such pipes with broken collars.

“If such pipes are installed, there would be high chances of water leakage and more cave-ins too. The corporation should not play with the lives of the people by installing such pipes with broken collars and circumferential cracks,” he said.

On the other hand, an official of the Municipal Corporation said no broken pipe would be used in the work.

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