Kharar traders block road as MC fails to fill stretch dug up for sewers

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Mohali, July 10

Landran traders voiced their angst by blocking the Chandigarh-Landran road and raising slogans against the Punjab Government and the Kharar Municipal Council today as the civic body has failed to fill the roadside which was dug up for laying sewers at the Arya College T-point about eight days ago.

Irate shopkeepers, who gathered on the main road and blocked the traffic for over an hour, complained that they were losing business due to the dug-up roadside, but the Municipal Council was unmoved.

A shopkeeper said, “It was hardly a four-day job, but there has been no progress in the work for a week. The roaside has been dug up, and there is no access to shops. We have not seen a single customer here in the past week. We have informed the executive officer many times, but he says he is helpless. What can we do?”

The protesters at the Arya College T-point complained that with the arrival of monsoon, the sewage water would start flowing on to the road and enter shops and houses. The MC officials are not ready to listen.

Residents of the area said that due to the digging, the water supply to several houses has been snapped. They said they were forced to take a 1-km detour. They said the Local Bodies Department did not even reply to CMO’s emails. The councillor and EO do not listen to requests. They said this is the sad state of affairs in Cabinet Minister Anmol Gagan Maan’s constituency.

Municipal Council Executive Officer Manvir Gill and Tehsildar reached the spot to pacify the protesters; however, they were not willing to listen to them. They kept raising slogans as the government officials stood like mute spectators.

EO Manvir Gill said, “The laying of sewage lines was initiated at the request of shopkeepers. The work had to be stopped as the contractor fell ill.”