Residents of trust colony look for better amenities

LUDHIANA: Lambasting the apathetic attitude of the officials of Ludhiana Improvement trust (LIT) towards their plight, the residents of 256 acre Maharishi Valmiki Nagar colony have demanded for better civic amenities and urban infrastructure which were promised to them at the time of development of the colony.

An overflowing sewer at Maharishi Valmiki Nagar Colony in Ludhiana. A file photo

Kuldip Bhatia

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 24

Lambasting the apathetic attitude of the officials of Ludhiana Improvement trust (LIT) towards their plight, the residents of 256 acre Maharishi Valmiki Nagar colony have demanded for better civic amenities and urban infrastructure which were promised to them at the time of development of the colony.

They further rued that repeated complaints made to the LIT authorities on various civic issues or problems being faced by the residents evoke no response.

In a separate memoranda submitted to the LIT Administrator and the Punjab Minister for Local Bodies Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Rishi Nagar (F-Block) Welfare Association president, Satish Thaman, had pointed out that since mid-March, the residents’ body had submitted 17 separate representations to the LIT authorities seeking improvement in delivery of civic amenities without getting reply to even a single of them.

Similarly, he referred to at least five DO letters sent by Directorate of Local Government, the Chief Minister’s Office and the Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, in connection with pending demands of Maharishi Valmiki Nagar residents which had gone unheeded.

According to Thaman, the biggest problem that the area residents were facing was water logging due to overflowing sewers in blocks A to F, X, Y and Z as the capacity of sewer lines was inadequate. Moreover, the delay caused in upgradation of sewage treatment plant at Balloke had further complicated the problem.

The residents said the parks and green belts in the locality were not in ‘green’ and some parks needed poor maintenance, some others in need new grills etc.

Focusing on the poor level of sanitation in the colony, the memorandum pointed out that the strength of ‘safai workers’ ought to be doubled to maintain reasonable level of sanitation and regular arrangements have to be made for lifting and disposal of garbage. At the same time, heaps of garbage lying near Government Institute of Textile Chemistry and Knitting Technology and other places needed to be cleared on regular basis.

The LIT officials said estimates for various development works for the colony were already prepared and further action like calling tenders and issuing work orders would be taken in hand once the annual budget is approved by the state government.