Rainwater harvest plan bears no fruit

Ludhiana: While the MC has failed to check water wastage in the city, its plans to encourage residents to adopt rainwater harvesting are bitting the dust.

According to the building bylaws of 2018, rainwater harvesting system is made mandatory in all new constructions of area up to 119 square yards. The purpose is to recharge the ground water level with rainwater. Moreover, there was a provision of constituting a rainwater harvesting cell in the civic body for regular monitoring and checking. However, the civic body has failed to implement the rule and no such cell has been formed till date.

The building bylaws suggest that residents’ welfare associations, community building organizations and non-government organizations will have to get involved in installation of rainwater harvesting system in open public spaces like parks, playgrounds etc. Under the stipulation, the civic officials have to promote rainwater harvesting among residents and offer incentives to those following the norms, while penalizing the defaulters. But all these provisions remain on paper as of date.

Recently, the MC had floated tenders for installation of rainwater harvesting systems at zone D office building in Sarabha Nagar and Leisure Valley, following which the rest of the buildings were to be taken up.

When asked about the issue, mayor Balkar Sandhu admitted that the MC had failed in implementing the bylaws, but claimed that the work will be completed shortly.

MC commissioner K P Brar said, “We will ask residents to make their arrangements for water harvesting and will also implement the same in our own buildings. Malls, commercial establishments and residential complexes will be asked for compliance.”

Meanwhile, senior scientist at Punjab Agricultural University, Dr Rajan Aggarwal, also stressed on the need to install rainwater harvesting systems in all buildings. He said, “If residents want any kind of technical assistance in installing this system, they can contact PAU as we provide advice free of cost.”