Despite a 2007 Supreme Court directive to construct a sewer pumping station in Kalyanpuri, work still remains incomplete. However, blame flies thick and fast between DJB departments.
The incomplete SPS
Seven years... long enough? Not for Delhi Jal Board officials.
An under-construction sewer pumping station (SPS) in East Delhi’s Kalyanpuri area was supposed to be operational from 2010, but even now, just half the work is in place.
Despite a 2007 Supreme Court directive to Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in this direction, things remain largely unchanged. Residents of the area are still living — and surviving — amid the poisonous release of the highly contaminated Shahdara drain.
When City Spidey asked around as to why the SPS was still not operational, DJB officials were quick to play their favourite game: passing the buck.
The officials in the mechanical and electronic department alleged that the project was delayed due to the civil department. “The SPS unit can’t function unless the civil department provides the space to set up the machines. Our work is complete. All electronic components required for the purpose are in place. Moreover, we have already laid down a pipeline to supply water to the Kondli STP,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
But construction of the building, of the sewer-flowing chamber and a boundary wall is yet to be done by DJB’s civil department.
City Spidey made several calls to MC Ram, a senior official with DJB’s civil department, but he was unavailable for comment.
The SPS project was meant to comply with the apex court’s order in 2007 on the plea of an RWA in Sector 14, Noida. In its plea, the RWA had raised a pertinent question: Why were people of Noida to suffer due to the filthy waters of the Shahdara drain?
Consequently, Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority, an independent pollution-monitoring body constituted by the Centre, had recommended an SPS in Kalyanpuri.
An affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court by DJB in 2008 claimed: “The land to set up the SPS was allotted in July 2007 and the tender issued in September 2008. While construction work will be started from November 2008, the SPS will be made operational from 2010.”
The SPS unit in Kalyanpuri was to collect the stagnant water of the Shahdara drain and channel it to a nearby STP in Kondli.
DJB finally began work on it from December 2012, and the deadline was extended to December 2014 for this Rs 76-crore project. But so far, nearly half the work remains incomplete, due to reasons best known to the officials alone.
According to a source in DJB, the deadline was again pushed back and the SPS was to be made operational by July 2017. But that target, too, remains elusive, with the pending construction of a sewer flow chamber and compounding of the unit.
When City Spidey got in touch with the project in-charge, Sanjeev Gupta, pat came the reply: “I have taken over the charge of this project recently and will not be is a position to comment on the issue.”
At least another deadline, sir?
