Overnight rain pours misery on tricity

Tribune News Service
Zirakpur, July 28

Overnight rain led to severe waterlogging in parts of Dhakoli and Zirakpur this morning, leaving some areas under 1-foot-deep water. Several housing societies and streets were flooded with rainwater causing damage to property and vehicles.

Zirakpur Municipal Council officials had to press JCB machines into action to clear blockages and drain out water from the affected areas. The area around Sushma Crescent in Dhakoli, VIP Road and several low-lying areas was flooded in over 1-foot-deep water. Till afternoon, several RWAs of housing societies had hired JCB machines to drain out the rainwater.

Eyewitnesses said the road leading to the Community Health Centre, upgraded to a 100-bed hospital in papers, was in a mess with slush. “Municipal Council officials and the administration are just not bothered about patients and attendants visiting the hospital. If for nothing else, on humanitarian grounds, they should get this road repaired,” said Opinder Singh, a Dhakoli resident.

In some housing societies in Peer Muchalla, Kishanpura and Baltana, the situation was worse as there was no outlet or drainage system for rainwater.

Peer Muchalla resident Kulvinder Saini said, “Illegal constructions, encroachments and violation of the master plan have left the drainage system almost non-existent.

Residents had to face great inconvenience as most roads and streets were waterlogged. Long traffic snarls were witnessed at various places on the Chandigarh-Delhi road in Zirakpur too.

“Office-goers and road users had a tough time wading through waterlogged streets and roads. It was only in the afternoon that the situation improved,” said Shikha Dubey, a private schoolteacher in Gazipur.

One of the boundary walls of Highland Park Homes in Zirakpur collapsed due to waterlogging.