All it takes is an hour’s rain to expose MC’s tall claims

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 17

An hour’s rain was enough to cause waterlogging in several parts of the city, as the civic body failed to take requisite measures for the redressal of the problem.

Waterlogging was mainly witnessed at some parts of Chaura Bazar and its adjoining areas, Old GT Road near the Clock Tower, Model Town Road, Dhandari Khurd, New Kundan Puri and other low-lying areas of the city.

Some vehicles even developed snag while passing through the accumulated water in these areas. Residents accused the MC of failing to ensure cleanliness of the road gullies and drainages.

Shopkeepers at the Guru Teg Bahadur Market near Clock Tower once again blamed the civic body for not taking any concrete measures to provide relief from chronic waterlogging. A shopkeeper said: “We have given complaints to the civic body authorities and elected representatives, but they have failed to find any solution. It seems they are not worried about the problems being faced by the public.”

Already suffering from overflowing sewage for the past many days, residents of Dhandari Khurd claimed that the situation became worst after rain on Friday. Sukhwinder Singh, a resident, said: “The MC has failed to pay attention towards choked sewers at Dhandari Khurd. Today, the rain increased our woes.”

Rakesh Lekhi, secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, said: “A brief spell of rain caused waterlogging in the streets of New Kundan Puri. Whenever it rains heavily, Buddha Nullah overflows and the dirty water enters houses. The Buddha Nullah is not being cleaned properly by the civic body.”

Due to waterlogging, traffic jams were also witnessed on major roads including the Old GT Road, Lakkar Bridge and a few others.

Sewage overflows at Panj Peer Road

Commuters and residents were a harried lot at Panj Peer Road due to the overflowing sewage after it rained on Friday. The main sewer line was earlier cleaned with a super-suction machine, but to no avail. Pankaj Prabhakar, a resident, said: “The main sewer line has not been cleaned properly. If it rains in other parts of the city, the sewer starts overflowing at Panj Peer Road. Our area falls under Ward No. 78, from where Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu is the councillor, but nobody pays any attention.”

Water falls from Elevated Road

Drainage pipes at the Elevated Road have damaged at various points. Whenever it rains, the water falls directly from damaged drainage pipes of the Elevated Road on the Old GT Road, with commuters passing underneath. It is learnt that these pipes are crying for attention for a long time. MC’s Superintending Engineer (O&M) Ravinder Garg said: “We are taking requisite measures to clear the accumulated water. We will inform the B&R wing about the drainage pipes of the Elevated Road.” Navjot Singh, Superintending Engineer of the B&R wing, could not be contacted.