Capital villages to get sewer facilities soon

The Indian Express,
Wednesday, November 21, 2006.

The Delhi Jal Board is all set to provide sewer facilities to rural villages in the capital. Acting on the Delhi High Court directives, the DJB has conducted topographical surveys and technical studies for setting sewer systems in the village.

By year-end, tenders for the same will also be floated.

The High Court was alarmed at the fact that untreated sewage was flowing from villages and unauthorised colonies into the Yamuna.

The court has been monitoring the progress on a monthly besis. DJB CEO Arun Mathur, when contacted, said, “The DJB intends to provide sewer facilities to these villages. Consultants are now in the final leg of their study and will be submitting their reports soon.”

He, however, clarified that the DJB will not set up sewer facilities for unauthorised colonies.

Out of 189 rural villages in the capital, topographical studies and maps have been prepared for 188.Verification of the Lal Dora has been done for 167 villages for installing sewer systems, and suggested setting up oxidation ponds and mini STP (sewage treatment plants) as per specific requirements of the village.

Individual STPs are proposed to be set up at 14 villages, while the remaining 102 villages have been grouped together.

With the court monitoring the progress of the DJB on the sewer project, the board has submitted a time-bound action plan of floating tenders for getting the project underway.

The reminder of the 72 villages will be connected to the existing sewer.

With the court monitoring the progress of the DJB, the board has submitted a time bound action plan of floating tenders for getting, the project underway.

Tender documents will be ready for 66 villages by October-end, for 65 villages by November-end and for the remainder of 58 villages by end of December this year.

The DJB has informed the court that it is unable to tackle the sewage flowing into the Yamuna from drains due to existing apex court rulings restricting facilities to unauthorised colonies in the capital.

The High Court orders stem from a PIL filed by NGO Tapas alleging that besides The Yamuna, over a dozen other water bodies in the capital had been polluted due to discharge of sewage water released from about 200 surrounding villages.

The court not only ordered preservation of all water bodies in the Capital but also directed treatment of sewage sullage before it enters Yamuna.

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