Expenses on cleaning Buddha Nullah drain on municipal coffers

Ludhiana: Despite spending large amounts on the cleaning of Buddha Nullah every year, the civic officials have failed to bring about much change at the ground level — if garbage is lifted for two months around the rainy season, it keeps piling up there for the remaining 10 months.
Information obtained through an RTI query suggests that over the last about 20 years, the civic body spent over Rs 9 crore on the cleaning of Buddha Nullah, without any financial support either from the government or MPLAD funds. This also belies the government’s claims about working towards cleaner cities.
In the RTI query, city-based activist Rohit Sabharwal had enquired about the expenditure incurred on cleaning of Buddha Nullah since 2001 and also whether the municipal corporation had received any aid from the Centre or the state government for the work. In reply, the civic officials clarified that they did not get anything by way of financial support from the government side.
Another fact emerging from the RTI query is that the corporation, instead of purchasing its own machines for cleaning, has been paying for the work to the drainage department. Had it purchased its own machines, the expenditure would have been less and cleaning would have continued for longer period.
When asked, the civic officials blamed the paucity of funds earlier for not buying own machines, and added that they are now going to purchase a Poclain machine for continuous cleaning of the drain. This machine will cost Rs 74 lakh and they are expecting its delivery by September. However, they declined to reveal why the machine was not acquired earlier.
Rajinder Singh, superintending engineer of operation and maintenance cell, said, “The work order for purchasing the machine is already placed and it is expected to reach here shortly and then there will be all-season cleaning of the drain.”
Nullah as dumping ground
Every year thousands of tonnes of garbage gets collected in the drain simply because, the civic body has failed to deal strictly with the residents who dump their household waste into the drain. Not only residents, even some garbage collectors are in the habit of dumping the waste into the nullah. There is a provision of Rs 5,000 penalty on the offenders caught red-handed, but to date, it has not been implemented strictly. A proposal to install CCTVs also lies in limbo
Third party roped in
This year, instead of asking the drainage department for annual cleaning of the drain, the civic officials hired the machinery from outside. The drainage department had demanded Rs 84 lakh for the purpose, but the corporation claimed they got it done for half the cost by some private party
Expenditure incurred
April 2000 to March 2008 — Rs 1.64 crore
2008-09 — Rs 17.99 lakh
2009-10 — Rs 28.55 lakh
2010-2011 — Rs 0
2011-12 — Rs 49.38 lakh
2012-13 — Rs 48.56 lakh
2013-14 — Rs 68.11 lakh
2014-15 — Rs 149.45 lakh
2015-16 — Rs 177.18 lakh
2016-17 — Rs 63.17 lakh
2017-18 — Rs 40.00 lakh
2018-19 — Rs 90.25 lakh
2019-20 — Rs 60.15 lakh
April 2020-July 2020 — Rs 0