Brahm Mohindra, Local Government Minister today held a high level meeting with the senior officers of the department to take stock of the water logging at some places of the state caused in the aftermath of torrential rain. The Minister instructed the officers to pump out the water from the cities immediately and restore the supply of potable drinking water to the residents.After the meeting Brahm Mohindra in a press communiqué said that Punjab has been severely hit by torrential rains in the last few days with the result that some of the places have been inundated. He said that some of the Cities of the State have saucer shape topography which resulted in flooding due to excessive rainfall as it is not possible to drain off the rain water by natural gravity.The Local Government Minister said that before the rainy season, he had instructed the officers of the Department of Local Government and all ULBs in the State to clear the sewerage system by the use of Super Sucker Machine/Jetting Machine, clean all the manholes and road galleys. The Minister stated that he has also instructed the ULBs to ensure that potable supply of water to the residents is maintained which has to be duly chlorinated as per CPHEEO Norms (Central Public Health Engineering Organization) so that there is no health hazards due to water borne disease.
He said that meanwhile, the department is keeping a close watch on the ground situation in different cities and accordingly the field staff is being guided regularly.He said that Bathinda has been affected badly as it received 178 mm rainfall in the morning of 16 July, 2019 which created flood like situation in the city. Due to heavy rain a breach occurred in sullage carrier carrying the sewerage water necessitating shut down of the pumping station. The pumping could only be started after 10 hours. He said that the whole situation was being monitored by the Local Government Minister and the senior officers of the department. All the accumulated water was drained out on 18 July 2019 and the situation is under control. He said that a high powered technical team has been constituted by the Chief Minister consisting of Technical Advisor to Government of Punjab, senior officers of PWSSB, Drainage and Public Health departments. The team would visit Bathinda immediately and submit the report to suggest further remedial measures after detailed site assessment.