Rain pours misery on most city roads

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 22

Today’s rain that followed strong winds left most areas waterlogged, several trees uprooted and electricity lines snapped. Assistant Agro-meteorologist of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) KK Gill said they recorded 60-mm rainfall today.

Commuters were seen struggling to move on in waterlogged roads. Many vehicles broke down on the road, leading to traffic snarls.

Meanwhile, power supply to parts of the city was disrupted after many lines snapped during strong winds. The residents blamed the civic body for not taking required measures to prevent accumulation of rainwater on roads. Some desperate people were seen trying to clear choked road gullies. The areas of Gaushala Road, Link Road, Hambran Road, Gill Road, Dholewal, Samrala Chowk, National Highway, Ferozepur Road, level crossing on Pakhowal Road, PAU, Dhandari, BRS Nagar, Sarabha Nagar were the worst hit.

Vice-president of the District BJP Parminder Mehta said the rain exposed the poor arrangements made by state’s largest MC. “Power supply to some parts of the city was affected. Rainwater was falling down the elevated road as the authorities concerned had failed to pay any attention towards its faulty drainage system,” he said.

“The MC has even failed to get road gullies cleaned in parts of the city. Rainwater got accumulated even on newly laid roads as no road gullies were constructed there,” said Mehta. “Whenever heavy rain hits the city, major roads and internal streets get flooded. The MC has installed interlocking tiles on roadsides but failed to construct road gullies for rainwater drainage. Besides, there is a need for storm sewerage system in the entire city to deal with problem of flooding,” said Gaganpreet Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar.

However, MC officials claimed that workers were deployed to ensure removal of rainwater from roads. Additional Commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal could not be contacted for comment.

Roads cave-in

A road caved in near Aarti Chowk on Tuesday morning. Tree branches were placed around the caved-in portion to prevent accidents. It was learnt that roads near Aarti Chowk have caved in multiple times in less than a year. Roads also caved in at Naveen Nagar and Haibowal. A road safety activist said: “The civic body should carry out regular inspections of roads and drainage to avoid road cave-in in the future.” Many newly carpeted roads developed potholes. An official of the MC said patchwork on damaged roads would begin after winter as its hotmix plant was not functioning due to low temperature these days.