GIS mapping to help MC digitalise sewerage records in Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: The authorities will use GIS mapping to prepare digital records of water supply and sewerage lines passing through the city.
As of now, the MC has very old records of sewerage lines. There are no records available in some of the areas. In such a situation, it becomes difficult to find exact location of water supply or sewerage pipes. The city has more than 2,000 kms of water supply and sewerage lines.
GIS mapping has been planned under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Renewal Mission (AMRUT). Once done, the entire network will be accessible in a single click. It will also help catch leakages easily and officials can keep a check on new connections as well.
At times, it has been seen that when roads are dug up for laying either underground cables or something else, the underground pipes get damaged and it takes a lot of time to repair the leakages, causing difficulties for people in the nearby areas. So once the entire information will be available at one click, there will be no loss to the infrastructure.
It has been observed that in the past few years, the existing staff has retired or transferred and the new officials are not aware of the infrastructure or underground pipelines. Therefore once the GIS survey is done, the new staff can also have access to the entire system. The GIS will also help create layers for households, street network, headworks etc.
Executive engineer of operation and maintenance cell of MC Ranbir Singh said, "We have almost completed the data collection work and now we will send this compiled data to Chandigarh where GIS mapping will take place." He said they have compiled the data of almost 50 wards, and it would be ready soon and then it would be sent to Chandigarh for mapping."