The Indian Express                      22.03.2013

Sector 35 road-widening drive leaves residents without water, electricity

The road-widening drive started by the Municipal Corporation to help the residents of Sector 35, has damaged the water and electricity pipe lines of the area instead, leaving most of them without water supply and electricity.

B S Sahni, 85, a resident of 35 D, has had no water supply in his home for the last two days. "On March 19, while the road widening was going on, the excavator damaged the 10-feet long water pipe in front of my house. There is no water supply in my house since then. I have to arrange drinking water from my neighbours which is very inconvenient for a person of my age," he said.

He added, "I have made four visits to the Municipal Corporation's office at Sector 37. They said the damage is huge and will take a minimum of four labourers and one day to fix the water pipe. They are supportive, but on the other hand the contractor is least concerned about our problems."

He also said, "The damage will cost me about Rs 2500, but my question is - why should a resident pay for the damage done by the contractor?"

Nitin Sood, another resident said, "The pipeline busted yesterday, leading to a severe water shortage at the locality. The water is continuously leaking from the broken pipelines, and has deposited along the road side."

Bifni, a resident on the third floor, complained, "I am unable to do any household work, as there is no water at my house from two days.."

JS Gogia, secretary of the residents welfare society of Sector 35 C and D said, "There is a nexus between the contractors and the officers of the Municipal Corporation. They have damaged everything and are now doing nothing to manage it. Contractors hardly bother about the problems of the residents."

He also said, "There should be proper co-ordination between the road development department and the Water and Electricity Department. A team of the Water and Electricity Department should supervise the digging of roads where required. Further, if there is any damage done during the construction work, then it should be paid for by the authorities only."

An officer at the sub-divisional engineer road sub division, Sector 35, said, "According to the norms, the water and electricity pipelines should be at least 6 feet deep, but in this case they are hardly half feet deep. We are doing an excavation of only half feet, and if the pipes are getting damaged, then this is not our fault."

He further said that the department has informed the Water and Electricity Department about the road-widening work in advance.

In contrast, Dheeraj Kumar, JE, said, "Our department did not get any intimation of the road-widening project. I was surprised when residents called me and complained about the destruction of the water pipes. The road sub-division department should have informed us, before starting the process, so that we could have sent our workers on time."