Waterlogging, poor drainage persist in Faridabad village

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, August 11

Continuous waterlogging and poor drainage have become a regular feature at here for the past month. The newly laid sewage network is yet to become functional for the residents of the village, falling in the civic limits.

“We are unable to use village streets as a majority of these are either lying damaged or are a victim of waterlogging for the past many weeks,” said Zakir, a resident. He said one of the main streets used by hundreds of residents daily was waterlogged since the onset of the monsoons, as there was no proper drainage available in the village having a population of around 40,000.

Though a sewage network had been laid for the first time in the village under the Union Government sponsored AMRUT-1 scheme, it is yet to be connected with the households. The residents are dependent on septic tanks or on measures in which the sewage waste is discharged out through drains, resulting in filthy conditions.

Hanif, another resident, said waterlogging and poor drainage had not only affected the movement of the people but had also posed a risk of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue. He said though the village had been included in the civic limits way back in 1994, when the civic body was upgraded to a corporation, the civic infrastructure had failed to get upgraded in comparison to the residential sectors and colonies carved out on the land of this village despite being located in the vicinity of the highway and the National Capital.

With facilities like parks or community centres missing in the area, the water supply system here is also based on borewells or tubewells, according to Sarasmal, a resident. He said though tubewells had been set up by the civic body, residents had spent money from their pockets to have a piped water supply from the source. There is no government dispensary or a health centre in the village, making the villagers turn to private clinics for medical attention, it was added.

Ombir Singh, Superintending Engineer, Faridabad Municipal Corporation, said the sewage project in the village was likely to be completed in about two months. He said as the village came under civic wards, the development works were taken care of in a regular manner.