Civic woes major poll issue among residents

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 12

With the state Assembly elections a few days away and the poll fever gripping the city, local civic problems have become a major election issue among residents in the Bathinda urban seat.

The reason behind it was the fact that in the past nine years, the SAD-BJP government had initiated many projects, but its executing agencies had failed to complete or run them properly. Even in the past two years while the eyeing Assembly poll, many projects were initiated with much fanfare but again they failed to bring any respite to residents.

Residents claimed that since the Independence, many governments had come and gone in the city, but the city still lacks basic amenities, which remains the major issue.

Hardeep Singh, a resident of Partap Nagar, said the MCB was spending Rs 288 crore on the sewerage and water supply project and it had given the sewerage maintenance contract to the Noida-based Triveni Company. But residents were facing such issues daily in various localities of the city.

Atul Garg, a city resident, said the stray cattle menace was posing a serious threat to lives of commuters in the city. The smooth flow of traffic was also getting affected due to the menace. Stray cattle could be seen roaming freely in and around the city and it had become a serious problem. However, the administration had not made any serious efforts to tackle the issue.

Another resident Gurleen Kaur said: “Over the past 25 years, there had been no let-up in the waterlogging problem in various areas. Forget about the areas getting waterlogged in monsoons, even an hour of rainfall is enough to inundate roads with water for an entire day. While the Municipal Corporation and senior officials keep claiming that crores are being spent on the drainage system, I wonder what real action is being taken in this regard.”

Subhash, a resident of Lal Singh Basti, said sewer was the biggest issue in the city as lines remain choked most of the time. As a result, residents of the area were badly affected.