Living in hell, say irate residents

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 10

Residents of Dhandari Khurd have sought assistance from Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to bring an end to their misery of living with choked sewers.

In a letter to Sidhu, residents wrote that streets in their area remain flooded with sewage. Even school going students were being forced to pass through flooded streets and as a result, they suffer from multiple health problems.

They also highlighted that several people were suffering from skin infection after coming in contact of dirty water.

Residents said sewage flows directly into low-lying houses and accused Ludhiana Municipal Corporation for their plight.

“A large number of villagers have left the village and settled abroad. Most of the residenrs are either migrants or belong to economically weaker section. As a result, we are forced to live in filthy conditions. Every year, an outbreak of diseases occurs here. What will our children study as health problems stare at them regularly,” mentioned residents in the letter.

Following a protest at the MC’s Zone B office in September, the officials concerned had assured that the problem would be resolved by October 1 but to no avail.

“Some factories, which are located near the village, dump their untreated waste water into the MC’s sewer due to which sewer overflows in residential area. You are our last hope to provide us relief from hell like conditions,” said residents of Ward No. 28 of Dhandari Khurd.

Sukhwinder Singh, a resident told The Tribune that even marriage proposal of many youngsters have got rejected due to insanitary conditions in the area.

“We have staged several protests against the civic body and factory units but to no avail. Now, we requested the Minister to help us and direct the staff concerned to resolve the issue,” he said.