Overflowing sewers a cause of concern

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 17

Residents of ward 28 are a harried lot due to overflowing sewers and contaminated water supply. Sharing his concern, ward 28 councillor Parmjeet Singh said the chances of an epidemic couldn’t be ignored in the affected areas if the MC didn’t take measures to address these issues at the earliest.

Residents of Durga Colony, Prem Nagar, Dhandari Khurd and various other parts of ward 28 are forced to live under unsanitary conditions for a long time. The residents slammed the MC for failing to resolve the problem of overflowing sewers despite their repeated complaints and protests.

Notably, teams of the Health Department had found a ‘huge’ amount of culex mosquito larva which transmits Japanese encephalitis (an infection of the brain) and West Nile Virus to humans, in stagnant water at different locations in October 2019. But, the overflowing sewers are still haunting the residents.

“There were two weddings at Dhandari Khurd village on Sunday. Guests suffered a lot due to accumulated sewer water in the streets. We urge the state government to provide us relief from these hell-like conditions,” said Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Dhandari Khurd.

Ward councillor Paramjeet Singh and MLA Sharanjeet Singh Dhillon had earlier met Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu last month. However, no measures had been taken by the Ludhiana MC till date, said the councillor.

“If the civic body does not take necessary measures to address the problems of overflowing sewer and contaminated water supply, the chances of an epidemic remain high. Residents, including children, are falling ill. They are forced to drink contaminated water,” he said.

“The sewer system is old in the area. Now, there is a population of around 4.5 lakh people in the ward. There are so many vehras where many people are living. Thus, there is a dire need to replace the sewer system in the ward areas,” he further said.

Notably, the MC had earlier floated tender to lay new sewer lane in a few affected areas of ward 28. However, the project could not see the light of day till date, said the councillor.

MC Superintending Engineer Rajinder Singh said they had already deployed a staff for cleaning of sewers. “The sewers have been cleaned today and are functioning properly now,” he said.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.