Super suction machines to clean road gullies to prevent waterlogging in PklSandeep.Rana1@timesofindia.comPanchkula: To ensure proper drainage ahead of the monsoon season, the Panchkula municipal corporation, for the first time, has engaged two super suction machines to clean road gullies.The machines have been engaged following complaints that only road gully covers and the outer area around them was being cleaned, and road gullies were not being cleaned causing waterlogging during every monsoon.Municipal commissioner Vinay Kumar told the House on Tuesday that there were around 55,000 road gullies under the jurisdiction of the Panchkula civic body. “We have already started cleaning road gullies using an outsourced super suction machine in Sector 15. We are in the process of getting one more in a few days,” he added.Also called road gully suckers, these machines are powerful, truck or trailer-mounted vacuum systems used to clear debris, silt, and sludge from road gullies and storm drains. They combine heavy-duty vacuum suction with high-pressure water jetting to completely clear blockages.Besides, a survey is being carried out of all the road gullies and drains to identify if there are any issues. At some places, the pipelines are disjoined or have no connections till the end for proper drainage. All these points will be fixed.Councillor Harendra Malik said only 20% cleaning work under the land was being done. There is no drainage at several areas. He demanded that all low-lying areas should be provided with the machines first.The MC chief had recently set a deadline of June 15 for cleaning of road gullies and drains. Civic officials said the work was going on a war-footing and most of the road gullies had been cleaned and before the monsoon all of them would get cleaned.Every year many of Panchkula’s roads, market places and residential areas face waterlogging due to blocked and unclean road gullies or poor drainage system. Due to this, at some places, water even enters residential premises.Lack of coordination among the departments involved is also one of the reason for the problem as joint preparedness for the monsoon is the need of the hour for the whole city.Panchkula Metropolitan Development Authority (PMDA) officials said they were already using this machine in its jurisdiction. It takes care of road gullies on sector dividing roads. While the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) takes care of road gullies in its sectors.
