Punjab's fastest growing town lacks basic facilities

ZIRAKPUR: This is one of the fastest growing satellite towns not only in Tricity, but also in Punjab. But it is struggling to provide basic facilities to its residents. With increase in town's population by 10-12% every year, the situation might worsen if the authorities don't wake up.

As the demand for basic facilities- such as electricity, water, roads and garbage processing - more than doubled in the past five years, Zirakpur municipal council, police and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) are struggling to meet the day-to-day needs of residents. The decade-old town is yet to have a sewerage system covering all its municipal limits.

According to the PSPCL data, Zirakpur is the only town in Punjab where per year increase in electricity demand has been 17-18% over the past five years. In other districts of the state, the average annual increase in demand is 7-8%. At present, the demand for electricity is 110 mega volt ampere compared to 20 mega volt ampere almost a decade ago, a PSPCL official said.

Even as the demand for electricity is increasing, the PSPCL officials admitted they have failed to meet it due to lack of infrastructure. Listing the problems, officials said there was no special corridor that could be used for underground wiring, installation of transformers as part of the upgrade plan has been delayed due to litigation and proper electricity poles have not been installed in many areas due to which there were occasional incidents of sparking in wires and meters in residential and commercial areas.

The town at the edge of Chandigarh is also facing the problem of garbage collection and its disposal. Some 60 tonnes of waste is generated every day. In 2002, Zirakpur was generating 3.5 tonnes of garbage for which the municipal council had sufficient dumping space.

To make matters worse, the garbage processing plant in Lalru is not operating properly. An open nullah in Dhakoli has turned into a garbage collection spot due to lack of proper disposal system.