Rain & fury in holy city

Strap: MC’s monsoon-ready claims fall flat| No provision of storm water drains make matters worse

***Box: Residents speak

Rahul, a shopkeeper at Heritage Street said, “Waterlogging is a heritage of the holy city. The rainwater enters our shops everytime and damages our goods. Today rainwater damaged my goods worth Rs1 lakh. Similar was the situation last year. Insurance companies do not cover such damage and nobody listens to us. It is a curse to have a shop on the Heritage Street.”

Sandeep Singh, a local said, “It is not happening for the first time. It is unfortunate that the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has not learned any lesson from the past mistakes. A separate storm water drain is needed in the city. Rainwater accumulated several areas. Money spent on desilting has gone down the drain.”

***Box: Official speaks

Amritsar Municipal Corporation Commissioner Malwinder Singh Jaggi said, “It was extremely heavy downpour. It was beyond the capacity of our existing system. As there is no storm water sewer in the city, so it takes a few hours to drain rainwater. We operated disposal pumps without any disruption. Rainwater was drained out within two hours because of desilting. We will write to the government to make a master plan for laying of a storm water drain in the city.”

*** Box Early sown paddy at risk

The incessant rain accompanied with high-velocity winds flattenend early grown varities of paddy in parts of the district. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Block Agriculture Development Officer said, “Heavy rain in the area has partially damaged all early sown varities. It will affect the colour of grain, which is on a maturing stage. The late sown varities such as 1121 are safe. The risk of bacterial leaf blight of rice plant is also there as water accumulates in fields, which helps in spreading bacterial diseases.

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 10

Incessant rain for around six hours on Friday not just left the the entire holy city flooded, but also exposed monsoon-ready claims of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation. Irked residents raised questions on crores of rupees spent in the name of desilting drains.

Not just low lying areas, the Heritage Street, Katra Jaimal Singh, Katra Ahluwalia, Outer Ring Road, GT Road, BRTS lanes, bus stand, Mall Road, MM Malvia Road, Majitha Road, Batala Road, Mall Road, Putalighar, Khalsa Collage lane, SSSS Chowk and several areas of the walled city remained inundated.

The rainwater entered houses in low lying areas in Inderpuri, Islambaad and Kot Khalsa. As all major sewers remained choked, the rainwater accumulated on roads throughout the day.

Apart from this, the rain also exposed the true picture Heritage Street. The rainwater entered shops around the Golden Temple and devotees could be seen navigating through stagnant water.

Commuters, especially motorcyclists and pedestrians, had a tough time. Several vehicles got stuck due to waterlogging, which further led to massive snarls in the city. Supply of milk and vegetables, too, got affected.

***‘MC embezzled Rs25 crore, no desilting conducted’

Suresh Sharma, an RTI activist, alleged that the Amritsar Municipal Corporation claimed to spend Rs 12.10 crore in 2018-19 on desilting of sewers. Then Rs 40 lakh was sectioned for each Assembly segment. Later, Rs 1 lakh was sanctioned for several areas in the city. There is no public record related to desilting.

The office-bearers of the MC General House, senior officials and contractors were hand-in-glove and they embezzled the funds, said Sharma.

“There should be a vigilance inquiry. They have passed the bills, but not conducted desilting. If sewer lines were cleaned then how come the city turned into a pool?” asked Sharma.

According to sources, there is no check of administration on desilting work. “Generally, they park the super-sucker machine on a manhole and click pictures and send it to senior officers of the MC. There is no inspection of any department. No one measures the level of silt before and after the desilting is done. Noting is in public domain. Nobody responds to public representative in this regard,” said a councillor.

***Electricity suspended in several areas

Power remained suspended in several localities of the city. Amit Kumar, a resident of Veer Enclave, said a power cut was imposed at 9 am.