No respite from waterlogging

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 17

The city has received 231 mm rainfall in the past two days, adding to the woes of residents. On Wednesday, rainwater still accumulated in streets and roads of Bathinda.

Moreover, the water has entered shops, banks, offices and houses in the city. Efforts are being made to drain out water with the help of super sucker machines from the premises of the Oriental Bank of Commerce, Civil Lines branch located on GT road. Besides, rainwater has also entered the PSPCL office, located on Power House Road, leaving official record soiled.

Commuters a harried lot at the railway underbridge on the Mansa road due to waterlogging . Apart from this, they faced difficulties in getting milk, vegetables and fruits as these were not supplied by vendors due water accumulation.

Residents accused the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda of not carrying out desilting of drains and road gullies properly before monsoon. They are of the view that had desilting been done properly, the situation would not have been that bad.

As roads and streets remained under water thought of the day, vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, were stuck at several places. In some parts of the city, pedestrians found it tough to wade through knee-deep water. The office-goers, particularly, found it tough to reach their destinations. The district administration had announced a holiday in schools for Wednesday.

The havoc wreaked by moderate to heavy showers was compounded by disruption in the power supply in several city localities. At some places, the power supply snapped around 3 am on Tuesday and till the filing of the story, it has not been restore.

Residents said every time when it rains, some areas in the city get waterlogged immediately. They said despite assurance from the MC, nothing had been done to get the issue resolved.