Panipat’s Ward No. 2 an apology for Handloom City
Mukesh Tandon
Residents of Ward No. 2 in Panipat city, globally famous as Handloom City, are living in pitiable conditions and there is no one to heed to their problems.
Incumbent councillor Pawan has made a photo album of waterlogged streets and pathetic conditions in his Ward No. 2 and submitted a copy to the Municipal Commissioner during the general house meeting held recently. The work of laying drainage pipelines is pending for many years.
Residents of various residential societies such as Geeta Colony, Jasbeer Colony, Noorwala, Moti Ram Colony, Indira Vihar, Hari Singh Colony, and Dhamija Colony in Ward No. 2 say that there is no drainage system in their colonies and dirty water enters their homes.
There is no sewerage in these colonies, and streets, roads and vacant plots remain waterlogged. Open drains remain chocked, as the Municipal Corporation (MC) has made no efforts to ensure uninterrupted flow of water, they say.
Around 50,000 people are living in eight colonies of the ward and 15,000 of them are registered voters. The area was brought under the Municipal Corporation in 2013 and Kamlesh Majoka became the first councillor. Pawan from the BJP is the local councillor now.
Amit Kumar, a businessman, says that there is no drainage facility in their ward. Dirty water stagnates in vacant plots and streets as drains are broken. During the rainy season, the conditions worsen, he adds.
People are living in pitiable conditions. Dirty water is being drained in the open and roads remain waterlogged due to poor drainage. The insanitary conditions in the ward have become a breeding ground for various diseases, says Shamsher, a general store owner.
Ashok Kumar, a shop owner, says, “When our area was brought under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation we were happy that development will take place but nothing has happened in the last six years”.
Contractors have dug up all streets in the ward and left the work midway. The construction work of several streets is pending for the last many months. The corporation has made no arrangements for drainage of water, he adds.
The Municipal Corporation is constructing an open drain in Jasbeer Colony at a height and as a result the level of houses has gone down by three to six feet from the street level. This means rainwater will not get drained, he says.
Anil Kumar, another resident and a dairy owner, says that house owners have suffered losses due to the inefficient functioning of MC officials. Some streets have been constructed at a higher level than others and there is no drainage there, he adds.
Anil runs a dairy in the colony but has to travel around 2 km every day to reach there due to the poor condition of streets.
Madan Lal Majoka, husband of former councillor Kamlesh, says that the callous attitude of MC officials alone is responsible for the pathetic conditions in the ward.
The MC officials have wasted money in the name of drainage of water in the colonies without any technical advice or engineering work. As a result, it is very difficult to drain out water from the ward, he adds.
The corporation had spent over Rs 30 crore on the development of streets, and an open drain in the ward but the results had been zero due to the apathy of MC officials, says Majoka. “I have filed more than 100 complaints to MC officials and also submitted an application at the CM window but no one in the corporation is ready to hear our grievances,” he adds.
Pawan says that he has raised all problems of his ward in the general house meetings. He has clicked photos of the pathetic conditions in his ward and presented an album to the Municipal Commissioner during a general house meeting.
Om Prakash, Municipal Commissioner, says that he will check the conditions in the ward. Besides, the works to construct sewerage and provide potable water to residents will be carried out under the AMRUT scheme, he adds.
“The Municipal Corporation has received funds for development works and we are taking up the colonies on the GT road in the first phase that I had approved in the meeting held recently,” says Om Prakash.
