Sewer water on Brahm Buta road irks devotees on way to holy shrine

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, January 14

On the festival of Maghi, when thousands of devotees were visiting the Golden Temple to take a dip in the holy sarovar, stinking water from a broken sewer line at the Brahm Buta Bazaar accumulated on the main road that leads to shrine.

Devotees have been forced to wade through sewer water accumulated on the road since Saturday. The residents laid bricks and stones in the water so that pedestrian could cross the road without any difficulty. However, while crossing the water, visitors often lost their balance and slipped into sewer water.

Vehicles passing through the road splashed water on clothes of pedestrians. Two-wheeler riders lost balance of their vehicles as they failed to notice the slope of the road due to accumulation of water and fell into it.

Some visitors at the Golden Temple, who stayed in nearby hotels, parked their cars on the road last night.

The area residents said a firm hired for the civil works dug up right portion of the road on Friday. Some sewer lines and water supply pipes got damaged during digging which led to accumulation of water. The residents and hoteliers demanded that the municipal corporation (MC) should repair broken lines on time.

“It is main road which connects Sultanwind Gate to Darbar Sahib. Thousands of devotees come here to pay obeisance on the Maghi festival and weekends. Despite tall claims of the MC, the condition of road is pathetic, but traffic is crossing the stretch without any major hurdle. Now, the water accumulation on road is inconveniencing devotees,” said Sukhdev Singh, a local resident.

“As it is weekend, no one from the MC will come to repair the damaged sewerage. The civic body will address the issue on Monday,” said Harjit Singh, an e-rickshaw driver who regularly commutes on the same road.