Abohar residents grapple with waterlogging, outages

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, August 2
While the first heavy rain of the monsoon in Abohar brought relief to farmers, it was a disaster for many residents as the roofs of the houses of four families collapsed due to the downpour.
A daily-wage labourer at Indira Nagri, Sukhdev Singh, said the roof of a room in his house collapsed when the family was asleep in the courtyard. He said the room was buried under the rubble of the collapsed roof and he did not have money to rebuild it.
Asha Devi, in Panjpir Nagar, said due to the downpour, the roof of the veranda collapsed and there were cracks in the rooms that could collapse at any time.

Kamala Devi, in Sant Nagar, said the roof of her room fell as well.
The roof of the rented house of a family in Dashmesh Nagar also collapsed.
Dr Rishi Narang, a social activist who belongs to a family of former councillors, has put the Municipal Corporation on the dock for its deteriorating civic condition. He said the sewerage lines were not cleaned properly before the monsoon and due to that, Jain Nagari, Nanak Nagari, Patel Park, Anand Nagari and other areas remained waterlogged for many hours after the downpour.
Residents of areas near the parks behind the Maharana Pratap Market in Nai Abadi were affected by power outages yesterday caused by the downpour.
Abohar Mayor Vimal Thatai today used his bicycle to inspect the roads on which potholes had become deeper as rainwater accumulated.
Sources said the MC has not been able to do patch work to plug the potholes as it had to wait long for its share in the GST since the AAP formed government in the state. Electorates had elected 49 councillors from Congress and one from the SAD in February 2021. Some Congress councillors joined the BJP last year and they blame the state government for negligence in development due to political reasons.
MLA Sandeep Jakhar had asked the state government to upgrade the waterworks and sewage disposal system. It awaits a nod from the Chief Minister.