If all goes well, the residents living near National Highway – 24 will get permanent relief from water-logging during rains as Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has planned construction of rain- water harvesting structures along 3.75 km stretch of NH-24 passing through his Assembly constituency <g data-gr-id="49">Patpargunj</g>.
“As per the plan, each water harvesting structure will be constructed at around 370 meters distance along NH-24. There will be 20 such structures on both the sides of 3.75 km stretch of NH-24 from Noida More to Murga Mandi in Ghazipur,” said a senior officer of Public Works Department (PWD).
“We have planned two rain-water harvesting structures at underpasses on this stretch,” added the officer. According to the officers of PWD such a structure costs around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 including construction of catchment area to collect rain water. “The first <g data-gr-id="54">rain-water</g> harvesting structure was recently completed by PWD at Khichripur and the department has been directed to expedite the construction of more structures,” said Ratnesh Gupta, <g data-gr-id="52">incharge</g> of <g data-gr-id="53">Patpargunj</g> Assembly constituency.
“The <g data-gr-id="48">rain water</g> in the catchment area of NH-24 is <g data-gr-id="39">major</g> cause of water logging in colonies along the highway <g data-gr-id="40">besides</g> underpasses therein. The storm water that used to flow down on the roads of the underpasses which forced PWD to reconstruct it after the monsoon every year but now, besides relief from water-logging, the life of the roads would be longer,” added Gupta.
The colonies which presently face water logging in the monsoons are — Pandav Nagar, West Vinod Nagar, East Vinod Nagar, Khichripur, Mayur Vihar Phase-II and several apartments along NH-24.
A huge rain-water harvesting structure at Pandav Nagar underpass on NH-24, which was started by Sisodia in his previous 49 days tenure, was also completed recently, informed Gupta. The structure is designed to collect water from the vicinity of the underpass to discharge it in the Sanjay Lake. “There is an arrangement to collect the water in a pit which is connected with the nearby Sanjay Lake through pipelines. We have constructed 15 feet deep pits to ensure the structures are cleaned properly and the water is not polluted,” added Gupta.
Presently, Sanjay Lake is fed with ground water through tube wells but since this monsoon the lake will be fed with storm water as well which used to cause water-logging in the area, informed Gupta.
The project costs around Rs 5 crore. This 3.7 km stretch of NH-24 is also being widened and reconstructed with beautification works. There are two <g data-gr-id="34">foot-over</g> bridges (FOBs) equipped with lifts on both sides and benches for the residents to sit there.
“We have planted over 50 plants at Vinod Nagar FOB to balance the heating effect by <g data-gr-id="43">highway besides</g> benches are put for the people to rest there. The arrangements for toilets and drinking water are also being made besides stains to ascend the highway,” added Gupta.