[caption id="attachment_249954" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
A drain outlet located at S-block colony near the old Dhansiri Bridge in Dimapur.[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, May 19: For decades, the main drains or ‘nullah’ (in Hindi) that snake around and across Dimapur have been the only thing keeping the city from being flooded. Yet, drains are under nobody’s care; no specific government department is in charge of the drainage system.
In the words of a government official, drains in Dimapur are orphans.
Some of the main drains that flow around the city are at Dobhinalla, Marwari Patti, Popular Bakery road, and Nyamo Lotha road. They connect and form a larger sewer near NST colony which flows through Khermahal, crosses New Field Check Gate and then flows into Dhansiri River at Burma Camp area.
Two more drains—one each from Nagarjan and Thahekhu village area—connect and turn into a larger sewer near Nagarjan traffic point and flows through Police colony, Bank colony, Walford colony, Chungaizaeng colony, and joins Dhansiri River at S-block colony. Some claim that these drains were natural streams in the past.
For several days,
Eastern Mirror surveyed few of those areas. Solid and liquid wastes enter Dhansiri directly without any filter.
In another area, the garbage that flows through the drain had formed a huge pile blocking the flow of water. Time and again, experts have warned that it causes man-made or unnatural flood in Dimapur, especially in low-lying areas like Zeliangrong village, Notun Bosti, Bank colony, Chungaizaeng colony, Bangjak Phom colony, etc. Such disasters are witnessed annually during rainy seasons.
According to the administrator of Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC), Moa Sangtam, the council has already started cleaning the drains a month ago in anticipation of the monsoon.
“For us, we have a special group of people who are just involved in cleaning the drains every day. But when we clean the drain and move to another, we find that the drains we have cleaned before is full of garbage again. This is the current problem we are facing,” he expressed.
The reason, he said, is because Dimapur citizens consider ‘drains as dustbins.’
“So right now, I don’t know how to solve the problem because for us we keep on doing our work but this can never be solved unless the people cultivate civic sense,” he asserted.
According to him, Dimapur has received funds from the central government for construction of drainages through the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme.
It is a flagship scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 with the focus to establish infrastructure that could ensure adequate robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation.
“We have included all the drainages under DMC area. The first phase has already been tendered. Once it is done, the contractors will start implementing the work. For the second phase, from our side, we have already identified and have put up the proposal to the Urban Development department. So this will also be soon tendered. Soon the construction of all these drains will be done,” he assured.
“Under Amrut we identify the area and submit it to the government; now it is up to the Urban Development to (invite) tender and award it to the contractors and also monitor when the construction is going on. So our responsibility ends with us submitting the project,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the mission director of Amrut, Chenithung Lotha, said that the department would focus on construction of ‘storm water drains.’
He explained that under Amrut guidelines, the urban local bodies select and submit the names of the drainages. “After submission, the department go and check whether the area is important and feasible. We prepare the detail project report (DPR) subject to the availability or size of the fund,” he said while adding that the DPR are currently under preparation.
Talking about the drainage system in Dimapur, Lotha said that long time back (in the early 2000s) a company by the name National Building Construction Company had taken up some of the drainage works. “In the middle, something happened and they have not completed it till today,” he said.
“The drains in Dimapur are like an orphan. Unless we have holistic approach, piecemeal is not going to work. We need to have a comprehensive drainage system for Dimapur. For that, one cannot blame the Urban Development or the PWD or the municipals,” he maintained.
Another problem, he said, is the ‘natural drainage pattern.’ “The low lying areas act as lungs for the city as it has farms and ponds that absorb water when there is an overflow. So the citizens are constricting those either by filling it up (with soil), encroaching lands, and throwing garbage,” he said.
“Whatever the problem, we try to solve it with limited budget. Even the Public Works department (Roads and Bridges) is also trying a different approach by constructing drains along with road improvement. This is how things are working. There is no comprehensive project for drains. People will start blaming the departments, but that is the real picture,” he informed.
Asked if garbage traps or gross pollutant traps (GPT) would be used at main drains to prevent organic wastes, litter, silt, and grease from entering rivers, he responded that ‘it will not help as people will dump and pile garbage.’
“It will cause unnatural or man-made flood,” he said.
In addition, Lotha shared about the ongoing construction of footpaths in Dimapur.
The footpaths, he said, were actually being constructed for non-motorised transportation, which is to encourage people to walk and use the bicycle as a means of transportation. The aim was to reduce pollution and to improve the quality of air in the commercial hub, he said.
“Our footpaths are not big enough to ride bicycles. So at the most, we can encourage pedestrian movement. The project is on the verge of completion,” according to him.
Lotha also said that the narrow roads leave no space for the drains to be installed. This is why the department constructed footpath and drains together depending on the fund available, said Lotha.
The mission director of Amrut, Chenithung Lotha, announced that a new foot over bridge would be soon constructed at Deluxe point in Dimapur. He said that the tender notice for the project has been issued already.
“There are some obstacles like electrical wires and utility poles which need to be removed. For this matter, we have already written to the Power department. Once it is done, the contractors will start the work,” he added.
