The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to clean all the three rivers flowing through the city all through the year. At present the civic body undertakes the cleaning of the rivers before the onset of the monsoon for which it spends about 35 lakh annually.
Although the civic body has constructed sewage treatment plants on the banks of the Pavana, Mula and Indrayani rivers, a sizeable chunk of untreated sewage water flows directly into the rivers without treatment. This in turn leads to the growth of hyacinth in the rivers.
Every year, the civic body appoints private contractors to tackle the hyacinth menace before the monsoon. However, it has been found that a little later after the monsoon sets in, hyacinth gets accumulated in the rivers. PCMC Commissioner had decided to invite competitive tenders from contractors for removing hyacinth. The PCMC, though, got a very poor response from the contractors.
Now, the PCMC has decided to remove hyacinth and keep the rivers clean using its own machinery through the year. This will ensure that accumulation of the hyacinth on a large scale will not take place.
The PCMC has divided the Pavana river into six zones. Rs 22 lakh would be spent on keeping it clean. Rs 9 lakh has been allocated for cleaning the Indrayani which has been divided into four zones. Rs four lakh will be spent on the Mula which has been divided into two stretches. PCMC officials said that the contractors appointed for removing hyacinth and other debris from the river would also be assigned the task of keeping the river banks clean round the year. The garbage generated in the procedure would have to be transported to the designated place by the contractor.
Source: Sakal Times, Nov’13
