Panchkula MC starts work on widening check dams

CHANDIGARH: A day after the Punjab and Haryana high court directed Panchkula municipal corporation commissioner to explain the status of sewage being dumped into Sukhna Lake from Saketri, the civic body started work on widening check dams constructed on the water channel from the Sukhna catchment area to Sukhna Lake.

The MC constructed four check dams to stop the flow of water to Sukhna Lake. In the monsoon, however, the flow of water from Sukhna catchment increases and mixes with sewage from Saketri. It seeps through the corners of check dams, eroding land on both sides.

A man working on the site said the width of a check dam is around 100 feet to 120 feet, which is now being increased by 40 feet to 45 feet on both sides. The width of the check dam will now be around 180 feet to 200 feet, which will stop water from crossing over, he said. The MC has started work on the first check dam and other dams will be widened in the days to come.

In a recent letter to UT home secretary Arun Kumar Gupta, Panchkula MC commissioner Rajesh Jogpal submitted that the height of the check dams was increased by 2 feet so that water did not flow into Sukhna Lake in the monsoon.

Meanwhile, the MC team also deployed its staff with a motor pump installed in the water channel to pump out water to the adjoining green belt, behind Hanuman Temple in Saketri village. Two workers were seen cleaning the point where sewage mixes with water from Sukhna catchment area.

Since 2009, the Punjab and Haryana high court has been monitoring the management of Sukhna Lake. The court regularly issues directions to states concerned and the administration to take steps to save Sukhna Lake. The administration, on the directions of the high court, released water from seven tubewells to Sukhna Lake when water level reduced to alarming levels.