Emptying Sursagar may take over a month: VMC

Vadodara: The task of emptying the Sursagar may prove to be a mammoth one and is expected to last for over a month. The pond in the heart of the city is being emptied to remove plaster of Paris (PoP) deposits from it and then strengthen as well as beautify it.
The work on Sursagar that is amongst the most polluted ponds in the state has been discussed since 2011.But there was no concrete development on the project till recently. The standing committee of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) cleared a proposal for the rejuvenation and development of the pond in October this year. It was amongst the list of projects that were formally kicked off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to the city.
The work on emptying the pond began about 10 days back, said a VMC official. The official added that it would take about one month or even more to completely empty it.
“Four pumps have been installed to remove water from the pond. These cannot be operated round the clock as the drain used for carrying the water from the pond has to be emptied from time to time,” said VMC in-charge executive engineer of the futuristic planning cell Paresh Patel. The water is eventually drained into the Vishwamitri river.
According to estimates, the pond has around 2,60,000 cubic meters of water in it. Below it lies a two meter deep layer of sludge that has a volume of around 1,20,000 cubic meters. The sludge largely comprising of PoP deposits will be cleared only after the water is drained out. The VMC will be spending Rs 38.09crore on the project.
The civic body was all set to beautify the pond at a cost of Rs 24 crore in 2014 even as little thought was given to cleaning it. A formal ceremony to kick off work was also performed in October, 2014.
The issue of cleaning the pond was taken up seriously only after the elected functionaries who came to power in December 2015 put brakes on the beautification project stating that it would make no sense if the water body continued to raise a stink.