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Although the city authorities spend INR 75 lakh to INR 1.20 crore every year for the monsoon season on cleaning 35,000 road gullies, it is always the design of the sewer system in Chandigarh that is responsible for waterlogging.
Officials say the drainage system is designed to handle only 15mm to 25mm of rain. When there is heavy rainfall in the city and it leads to flooded roads, the design of the drainage system is responsible for it. However, residents think otherwise. Chandigarh Federation of Sector Welfare Associations President Balinder Singh Bittoo said, “We keep saying we are a smart city. Is that what a smart city does – that the whole city got drenched in torrential rains.” They keep comparing Chandigarh to cities abroad saying they have the best infrastructure. In this era of technology, how can they blame the drain design?”
The system was designed in stages, with a rate of 15 mm per hour in the first stage (northern sectors), 20 mm in the second stage (central sectors), and 25 mm in the third stage (southern sectors).
Despite numerous discussions in public house meetings every monsoon, not much is achieved as each time they say that ‘drainage capacity cannot handle the torrential flow of rain’.
“The old drainage system was designed to handle 15mmph of rain in the northern sectors and 25mmph of rain in the southern sectors of Chandigarh,” the civic body said.
When asked why the capacity could not be boosted, a senior civil authority official said, “Actually, the problem is that the electives are not deepened. Even if the MC increases the capacity of the storm water pipelines to absorb any amount of flood (which is not required), Outflow is blocked where the picker is full and the mains are fully submerged.”
Chandigarh Civic Authority stated that “All road ruts in the city of Chandigarh were cleaned at least once from 16th March to 30th June”.
They added that more road ruts are being cleaned as necessary depending on site conditions and during the rainy season. There are about 35,000 road canyons in the city.
In Chandigarh, cleaning road ruts usually involves a combination of manual and mechanical means. Manual cleaning involves workers in appropriate protective equipment using hand tools to manually remove debris, leaves, and other obstructions from road ruts.
Mechanical cleaning such as suction machines or jetting machine also includes cleaning of road grooves, connecting RCC pipes and machine holes in case of severe blockage. These machines can either suction accumulated silt and debris from the gully chamber or use high-pressure water jets to clear blockages within the pipes.
Civil authority officials stated that in addition to the regular staff being deployed throughout the year, an additional 70MW is being deployed exclusively for the monsoon season from March 16 to September 16.
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