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Shiv Kumar Sharma
It is a repeat of last year: Yamunanagar town is facing flood fury during the monsoons this time too. At least 15 to 20 colonies are flooded, causing serious damage to properties, furniture and other household materials. The Municipal Corporation has not been able to find a permanent solution to the problem till date.
Heavy rains on August 18 left a number of areas in Yamunanagar waterlogged, exposing the tall claims of the Municipal Corporation and other departments of having cleaned nullahs, sewerage and drains.
That day, rainwater entered houses in Amarpuri Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Sasauli road, Railway Colony, Gobind Puri and the Camp area in Yamunanagar. Residents of these colonies spent most of the day draining water from their houses.
“Water entered our house early in the morning on August 18. We had a tough time saving our household items, furniture, washing machine, refrigerator and eatables,” says Vikas Kumar, a resident of Amarpuri Colony.
Besides the choked sewerage and drains, the main cause of floods in Yamunanagar is the nullah passing through the middle of the two towns. It is not cleaned properly and has been encroached upon at several places. The nullah overflows whenever it rains heavily, leading to a flood-like situation in several colonies of Yamunanagar.
This nullah carries stinking water contaminated with poisonous industrial waste from Jagadhri. It has become a permanent health hazard.
“The nullah is not cleaned on a regular basis with some mechanised and modern equipment. Besides, the government has failed to clear encroachments along it. The nullah does not have the capacity to carry huge volumes of water in the event of heavy rains. This leads to flooding of major chowks, lanes and bazaars of Jagadhri, including Kamani Chowk, and Vishvakarma Chowk, and several colonies such as Professor Colony, Gulab Nagar and Patel Nagar,” says advocate Ram Kumar Radauri, a resident of Model Town, Yamunanagar.
Ramesh Kumar, retired principal of Mukand Lal National College, Yamunanagar, says that the government has regularised several unauthorised colonies in the recent past even though these do not have proper sewage disposal facilities and are flooded during the monsoons every year.
“Yamunanagar needs a major project to divert the existing water flows and lay bigger sewer pipes to properly drain rainwater from congested colonies that are flooded time and again,” says Ramesh Kumar.
He says that the district administration should identify low-lying areas and public places in Yamunanagar town to install rainwater harvesting wells in a big way to save water and people as well.
Due to heavy rains on August 18, roads and streets in most of the colonies in the town were flooded, as the sewerage and drains were blocked. A number of people had a tough time as their vehicles got stuck at several waterlogged places. The overflowing Jagadhri-Yamunanagar nullah wrecked havoc in the Kamani Chowk area where several vehicles, including Haryana Roadways and UP Roadways buses, were stranded. The buses were later removed with the help of cranes.
The rainwater wrecked havoc in Jagadhri too. More than one feet of water accumulated at Matka Chowk, Chhoti Line, near Buria Chungi and other places for hours, causing inconvenience to commuters.
Anil Nain, Chief Sanitary Inspector, Municipal Corporation, says that Yamunanagar and Jagadhri towns have 39 nullahs and they are cleaned regularly. “There are three teams comprising 20 employees each, which are working regularly to clean nullahs in the two towns. Sometimes, a large number of polythene bags get stuck in the nullahs, hindering their smooth flow,” says Nain.
Admn must identify low-lying areas
Yamunanagar needs a major project to divert the existing water flows and lay bigger sewer pipes to properly drain rainwater from congested colonies that are flooded time and again. The district administration should identify low-lying areas and public places in Yamunanagar town to install rainwater harvesting wells in a big way to save water and people as well. — Ramesh Kumar, retired principal of Mukand Lal National College, Yamunanagar
Nullah not cleaned regularly
The nullah passing through Yamunanagar and Jagadhri is not cleaned on a regular basis. Besides, the government has failed to clear encroachments along it. The nullah does not have the capacity to carry huge volumes of water in the event of heavy rains. This leads to flooding of major chowks, lanes and bazaars of Jagadhri, including Kamani Chowk, Vishvakarma Chowk, and several colonies such as Professor Colony, Gulab Nagar and Patel Nagar. — Ram Kumar Radauri, resident of Model Town, Yamunanagar