Brief spell of heavy rain, city helpless again

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 16

Although a brief spell of heavy rain and intermittent drizzle thereafter brought some relief from the suffocating heat and humidity, it also spelled misery for the city residents as most roads, low-lying areas and a large number of markets and residential localities were inundated. The sky, however, cleared as the day progressed and it turned into a sunny day towards afternoon.

Amidst the downpour, incidents of road cave-in were reported from three places near Fountain Chowk, Yes Bank in Gobind Nagar and in Dugri. Part of the wall of a school building in the Field Ganj area crumbled.

Localities inundated

Several waterlogging-prone localities, including Domoria Pul Road, Cemetery Road, Old GT Road from Railway Station to Chand Cinema, Bhadaur House, Dholewal, Sharpur, Maharani Jhansi Road, Chhawni Mohalla, Guru Nanak Pura, Model Gram, roads under flyovers at Old Court Road, General Bus Stand, Atam Nagar, Gill Road along with several roads in posh localities of Sarabha Nagar, Maharishi Valmiki Nagar and Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar were submerged causing huge inconvenience to motorists, two-wheeler riders and other road-users.

Nullah water enters houses, shops

Water also entered many houses and shops located along the banks of Buddha Nullah at Tajpur, Chander Nagar, some areas in Haibowal with the affected people alleging that at some places household articles and merchandise were damaged due to overflowing nullah.

Residents said it was the same sad story whenever it rains. Inadequate capacity of sewer lines, lack of storm water drainage, coupled with failure of the MC to clean up road gullies and open drains, especially Buddha Nullah, to cope with the rainy season had wrought havoc on the city, said residents. “In particular, failure to arrange for desilting of Buddha Nullah which invariably overflows during heavy rain tantamount to criminal negligence,” said Nek Chand, a shopkeeper in Chander Nagar.

Roads cave in at three places

A portion of road near Basant Fast Food at Fountain Chowk, another near Yes Bank in Gobind Nagar and yet another in Dugri gave in. The damaged roads caused disruption in flow of vehicular traffic. At the busy Fountain Chowk, there were prolonged snarl-ups on all roads around the intersection. The MC officials attributed the road cave-in incidents to carelessness on the part of private plumbers who had failed to properly seal the joints while connecting private sewer lines to main sewer. Repair of the damaged portion of roads had been taken in hand, said the MC officials.

Static compactor area in a mess 

Area around the static compactor in Dugri went under water causing disruption in the work for disposal of garbage. The problem was further compounded by complaints of the MC staff deployed there that there had been power shutdown regularly for long hours during the past three days. As a result, garbage was strewn on the roadside and vacant area around the compactor site.

Hospital wall crumbles

Part of the boundary wall of Lord Mahavira Civil Hospital in the city collapsed causing damage to a car. According to hospital staff, some 40 to 50-foot length of the boundary wall crumbled and the loose bricks fell on the car parked alongside. Doctors on duty said no other damage was done and the civil wing of Punjab Health Systems Corporation Limited had been asked to reconstruct the damaged wall.