Jalandhar mayor to call emergency meeting to discuss water management

Jalandhar: After TOI on Sunday exposed the mismanagement of water resources in Punjab’s urban areas, particularly in Jalandhar city, Jalandhar mayor Jagdish Raj Raja has decided to convene an emergency meeting of the municipal corporation (MC) to discuss the issue and find solutions. Jalandhar deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma too announced that three rooftop rainwater harvesting systems will be installed in the district administrative complex.
Niti Aayog’s 2018 report has included Jalandhar, along with four other cities of Punjab, among 21 cities of the country that are expected to run dry of groundwater by next year. All its 10 blocks have been declared overexploited.
Mayor Raja said that he would be calling an emergency meeting of the house and said he had already started consulting experts and activists to save the city from running dry of groundwater. “I shall be issuing a directive for the meeting on Monday,” he said.
Meanwhile, DC Sharma, admitting that rainwater was getting wasted in urban areas, said, “The work on the installation of systems will begin next week. The soil and water conservation department has identified the locations in district administrative complex. The project will cost us Rs 6.25 lakh.”
The district administration complex was constructed nearly two decades ago. Almost all its open area is covered with concrete. The road berms outside the complex, which were earlier left kutcha, were also covered with concrete flooring a few years ago. The result is that even for a brief rainfall leads to inundation of the roads around it.
The obsession of the MC to cover all kutcha spaces with concrete or tiles has taken its toll in Barandari also — which has colonial-era bungalows serving as residences of top officers of district administration, police and judiciary. Earlier, there were open spaces along the road, which would quickly absorb rainwater. However, now the entrance to the area from old G T Road, gets inundated even after a short spell of rain.