Residents protest choked sewers

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 9

A group of residents staged a protest against overflowing sewage at Dharampura in Ward No. 57 on Saturday. They also burned the effigy of former councillor Inder Aggarwal, who is the husband of current ward councillor Manju Aggarwal.

Residents complained that they had been suffering due to the choked sewers for the past four days. They said their voice was not being heard despite repeated requests.

Rajesh Kumar, a local resident, said: “We are facing a lot of problems due to choked sewers. It is hard to breathe on streets where sewage is overflowing from manholes. We burnt the effigy of Inder Aggarwal, who is the husband of the incumbent councillor. We never saw the councillor visiting our area, as the entire work is being looked after by her husband. Even he did not visit the area to see how much we are suffering.”

Meanwhile, MLA Surinder Dawar also reached the spot. He directed the MC officials concerned to take necessary steps to redress the issue, Kumar said.

Denying the allegations, Inder said the protest was politically motivated and backed by the Congress leaders to defame him and his wife.

He said: “The Dharampura area was added to the ward after delimitation. The problem of choked sewers exists for a long time due to the poor alignment of sewers. As we got complaints from residents, an MC team was deployed to resolve the problem. What is my fault?”

He said: “I was admitted to a hospital for an eye surgery. However, two persons from the councillor’s office were already deployed at the spot.”