Rohtak RWA to protest over waterlogged roads tomorrow
Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, August 4
Residents of various Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) sectors, under the aegis of the All Sectors Residents Welfare Association, will stage a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner (DC) office on August 6 to flag the issues of overflowing sewers and accumulation of water on roads even after light rain.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the association’s office-bearers held at the Community Centre, HSVP, Sector 3, here last evening. The meeting, jointly presided over by the association president, Ranbir Singh Chhillar, and Kadam Singh Ahlawat, also discussed other issues such as parking of vehicles and stilt-plus-four floors policy of the state government.
“Residents of all HSVP sectors are a harassed lot due to the overflowing of sewers as it leads to accumulation of dirty water on roads. The situation deteriorates during the rainy season. A tender to desilt the sewer and stormwater drain with bucket machines was floated some months ago. But desilting was not carried out through bucket machines,” Ahlawat said.
He said the sewers started overflowing even after a light shower, leading to great inconvenience to residents of the HSVP sectors. “The problem still persists as the sewers and stormwater drains have not been disilted through bucket machines, so we are demanding that the authorities should ensure the cleaning of the sewers and drains by using the bucket machines at the earliest to resolve the issue,” he added.
Ahlawat said the dharna would be staged for three hours outside the DC office on Tuesday to mount pressure on the district authorities for fulfilling the demand. “We will be forced to take a big step if the demand is not met as the residents of all HSVP sectors are at the receiving end due to the lethargic attitude of the authorities concerned towards our plight,” he added.
The sewerage system is being maintained by the HSVP, while the Municipal Corporation has the responsibility of maintaining the stormwater drainage system in the HSVP sectors.
Jagmal Solanki, Executive Engineer, HSVP, said every complaint from the residents about the sewer overflowing in the sectors was resolved as soon as the complaint was received. “The association has not yet apprised me of the complaint about sewer overflowing. The stormwater drainage system is maintained by the municipal corporation,” he claimed.
Mandeep Dhankar, Executive Engineer, Municipal Corporation, said the work to clean the stormwater drain in the sectors was underway and it would be completed soon.
Local MLA and Congress chief whip Bharat Bhushan Batra said not only in the HSVP sectors, sewers were overflowing in many other residential colonies in the city, adding that the authorities concerned had failed to disilt the sewer lines before the monsoon season.
“Since the residents pay tax for that, it is the duty of the state government to ensure that the sewers do not overflow. However, it is not discharging its duty. I am receiving complaints about accumulation of dirty water on roads and streets as the sewers are overflowing,” he added.
Batra said the responsibility of maintaining the stormwater drainage system in the sectors should be given back to the HSVP.
‘Govt has failed to discharge its duty’
Local MLA and Congress chief whip Bharat Bhushan Batra said not only in HSVP sectors but sewers were overflowing in many other residential colonies of Rohtak city. He added that the authorities concerned had failed to disilt the sewer lines before the monsoon season.
