Cleaning drains: KMC flunks ?pre-test?

FAILING TO pass the pre-monsoon test in drain cleaning, the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has a tough task at hand. The KMC has to give their best if they don?t want end up with muck all over the face.

FAILING TO pass the pre-monsoon test in drain cleaning, the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has a tough task at hand. The KMC has to give their best if they don’t want end up with muck all over the face.

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The intermittent rainfall in the last seven days has exposed the KMC’s claim that drain-cleaning work was on at a brisk pace. The city witnessed waterlogging at several areas. The KMC compound and the Ashok Nagar area of Motijheel was submerged.

With the monsoon already knocking at the doors, senior officials of the KMC are once again claimed that the drain cleaning job was virtually over. The only part left was the COD drain-cleaning work.

However, according to sources, the KMC engineering section was yet to clean even 10 per cent of the 125 drains at its disposal.

Further, over 1000 trucks of silt were still lying along drains and the KMC’s health department was yet to remove them.

According to senior engineering section officials, several letters in this regard had been written to the Nagar Swastha Adhikari, however, action was still to be taken on their part.

Compounding problems further, the uncleared silt at many places had flowed back into the drain. This had also resulted in choking of drains and chambers in several areas, which subsequently resulted in waterlogging in few areas.

Besides, slow payment process at the KMC also put brakes on the speed of drain-cleaning work in the city. According to official figures, about 50 per cent of the total payment due had not been paid to labourers.