Chandigarh: Will be equipped to harvest rainwater

CHANDIGARH: All community centres will be equipped with rainwater harvesting facility. Seven natural ponds will be restored. A Jal Shakti Kendra formed and afforestation carried out. All these jobs will be done under the newly launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan of the ministry of housing and urban affairs.
To begin with, the municipal corporation (MC) has prepared an estimate of Rs 29 lakh to set up a system to tap rainwater in sectors 7 and 18 community centres.A tender is to be issued to hire agencies for the works.
“We have 44 community centres across the city. The plan is that this facility will be brought in all the community centres in a phased manner. As the MC is facing a financial crunch, we are starting the initiative with two centres. Others will be taken up later based on the financial health of the civic body,” sources said.
7 ponds to be restored
The central government has been focusing on adoption of rainwater harvesting in buildings. Newlyconstructed houses of over 1 kanal have to have the system. Besides, afforestation is another major component of the scheme. The MC, administration and the forest department carry out plantation drives across the city from time to time. “The best time to plant saplings is the monsoon. All departments are carrying out such drives at their own level,” an official said. Restoration of 7 ponds — four under the UT administration and the rest with the municipal corporation — is another crucial component of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan. All of them are they are in poor condition. They are situated in Sarangpur, Khuda Ali Sher, Kaimbwala, Maloya, Khuda Jassu and Dhanas.