E-Paper
Repeated pipeline damage, dust, and delays plague Prayagraj localities
City officials neglect development site inspections, causing severe disruptions for over 2,000 families due to poor management and unsafe conditions.
Despite widespread public inconvenience, senior officials overseeing development works have not acknowledged the hardships faced by city residents or visited project sites for several months.
Their continued absence from on-site inspections in the densely populated Preetam Nagar locality and neighbouring areas, coupled with their reluctance to answer calls on their CUG numbers, has resulted in poorly supervised construction work, forcing residents to bear the brunt of the mismanagement.
The situation has worsened due to private agencies executing the development project, as they repeatedly damage underground water pipelines, leave roads excavated without warning signs or barricades, and create hazardous conditions for commuters, especially after dark.
More than 2,000 families in the locality have been facing severe disruptions; roads are left dug up for prolonged periods and heavy vehicular movement causes thick dust clouds to blanket the area. Adding to the residents’ woes, continuous leakage from damaged underground water pipelines has worsened the situation.
The disorder is largely attributed to poor coordination among various government departments, including Jal Kal, the private construction agency handling the project, and the power department.
According to Amarjeet Singh, husband of the local corporator and the person supervising civic works in the area, the main high-pressure underground water pipeline has been breached more than three dozen times at various locations over the past six months due to unplanned excavation for rainwater pipeline installation by JCB machine.
He alleged that senior officials from Jal Kal, the Power Corporation, and even the Municipal Commissioner have not conducted on-the-spot inspections of the ongoing development work, leading to the current situation.
Residents of other neighborhoods—including Transport Nagar, George Town, Naini and Kareli — have also been enduring severe inconvenience for over six months.
Abdul, a resident of George Town, said that unplanned roadside digging, carried out without proper knowledge of underground pipeline routes, has created significant hardship for area residents.
Kumar Gaurav, General Manager of the Jal Kal department, acknowledged the repeated pipeline damage and said the department has incurred substantial revenue losses, which are being charged to the private agency executing the work.
“If the private agency workers fail to repair the damaged pipeline at their own cost, we undertake the repairs and then send them the expenditure details for reimbursement,” he said.
Dinesh Chandra Sachan, chief engineer of the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC), said that private agencies have now been directed to coordinate with officials of all concerned departments before undertaking any road excavation to prevent further damage and inconvenience.
