Kanpur: Mayor Pramila Pandey on Thursday said the Kanpur Municipal Corporation alone could not be held responsible for the city’s waterlogging woes during the current monsoon, alleging that other govt departments too were accountable for the situation.Pandey said media reports appeared to suggest that the mayor was being held responsible for the city’s “sorry state”, but denied this and urged officials of other departments to work together for Kanpur.Pandey identified waterlogging and depletion of groundwater as two major problems facing the city and attributed both largely to the disappearance of traditional ponds.According to govt records, 312 ponds existed within the old boundary of the Kanpur Development Authority (KDA). Pandey said most of these ponds had either disappeared due to encroachment or were on the verge of extinction. She demanded that the ponds be identified and restored and that officials responsible for allowing encroachments be held accountable.“Earlier, excess rainwater used to accumulate in these ponds and the city did not face such waterlogging. Now, colonies and markets have come up on these sites, resulting in waterlogging,” she said, adding that she had already raised the issue with the chief minister.Mayor said KMC lacked powers to undertake planned city development, unlike municipal corporations in several other districts. She alleged KDA had either sold pond land or allowed encroachments in the name of development. “KDA should reveal where all the ponds have gone,” she said.Pandey demanded a drone and GIS survey of all 312 ponds to identify their boundaries as per revenue records. She also sought inquiries wherever construction or encroachment was found on pond land.She further said that if any govt agency, including the KDA, had undertaken development projects on pond land, such decisions should be reviewed publicly. “Citizens have the right to know where their natural water bodies have gone,” she said.Pandey also demanded that the divisional commissioner constitute a committee to investigate the present status of ponds in the district.
