Ambala’s civic problems pile up, Mayor vows rapid development
With just 10 months remaining in the tenure of the current House, newly elected Mayor Shailja Sachdeva of the Ambala Municipal Corporation has a long list of civic issues to address. Poor drainage, sanitation, stray animals, deteriorating parks and non-functional streetlights are among the major challenges.
Despite the daunting task ahead, Mayor Shailja Sachdeva and her husband, Sandeep Sachdeva, who is also a nominated member of the Municipal Corporation, remain confident about carrying out development works and resolving public grievances. However, waterlogging during the rainy season is expected to be one of their toughest challenges.
Every year, a significant budget is allocated for drain cleaning and waterlogging prevention, yet several low-lying areas, markets, and residential colonies continue to suffer from severe flooding, with water stagnation lasting for days.
Mithun Verma, a Congress-elected member from Ward 10, said, "Preventing waterlogging during the rainy season is a major task for both the corporation and the new mayor. Proper cleaning of all major and minor drains and deploying an adequate number of sanitation workers will be a challenge. Besides, issues like sanitation, streetlighting and pending development works in various wards also need immediate attention."
After winning the election, Mayor Shailja Sachdeva assured the residents that her administration would work at a fast pace to address long-pending civic issues.
"The government will ensure Ambala’s rapid development, and we will resolve all major civic problems to prevent inconvenience to the residents," she said.
Sandeep Sachdeva also emphasised the administration’s commitment to tackling waterlogging and other civic concerns.
"Waterlogging has been a persistent issue, but our priority is to ensure that residents don’t face such problems during the rainy season. We have already discussed the issue with officials, who have assured us that drains will be cleaned on time. Additionally, improving sanitation, drainage, relocating stray animals, and installing streetlights are on our priority list," he stated.
He further said: "We have started visiting different wards to assess and resolve issues. Being part of the ruling government, we will ensure these problems are effectively addressed with government support. Ambala will benefit from being the home district of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Though only 10 months of our tenure remain, we will speed up development work across all wards and secure another victory in the next election."
