Jalandhar: Monsoon is here and so are waterlogging woes

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 20

As it rained incessantly since early morning, the city roads got badly deluged causing a lot of problem in commuting to the general public.

The roads in Sodal area, Kishanpura, Basti Danishmandan, Adarsh Nagar, Central Town, Kapurthala Road and Industrial Area got completely inundated and residents had to wade through 1 to 1.5 feet deep water to pass through. Residents of old city areas, especially around Domoria Bridge and Ikehri Pull, got completely cut off as it was difficult for them to cross over even in vehicles, which kept on getting knocked off due to stagnated water.

The visitors to public places like bus stand, district administrative complex, Suwidha Centre, tehsil complex etc also had to face problems as the rainwater was not getting drained properly due to clogging.

Raghbir Kainth, who had come to check the status of his application for SC certificate in the DC office, said: “I tried walking carefully by the higher edges of the passage to reach the Suwidha Centre, but I had to ultimately put my shoes in the stagnant water to reach the office. The administration is levying facilitation charges from the public for all services, but is not providing complete convenience.”

The residents of the city used social media especially on the 91K member FB page ‘NoticeBoard - Jalandhar by Tinu Luthra’ to vent out their ire. A member of the group Iqbal Deep Singh wrote: “The great Jalandhar boating and water sports festival is back. Enjoy free boating. Hurry. Offer valid till water logging lasts. Issued by MCJ in the interest of public”.

The post got so much response that people started ridiculing municipal corporation authorities asking them if Jalandhar was actually a Smart City. On a serious note, Sanjeev Duggal, a member wrote: “Try to correct your voting pattern. Can’t we choose 50 honest, educated and dedicated persons for the welfare of Jalandhar in corporation elections?”

Mayor Jagdish Raja said: “Since it rained very heavily today, the water got stagnated at some places. Our teams have been out to clear the road gullies which had drainage issues. We will get all areas checked.”

Kapurthala’s sub-tehsil complex is a lake now!

• Even as the entire city of Kapurthala got inundated in rainwater, the staff and visitors to the sub-tehsil complex at Talwandi Chaudharian were the worst affected. The employees who managed to go in this morning got stuck as the building got converted to a lake house. Since the plinth level of the building is 5-feet below the main road, the rainwater keeps on collecting here
• Falling under the Revenue Department, the office of the sub-tehsil complex caters to the residents of 79 villages. The officials said a new sub-tehsil building had been raised just 500 metre away from the old building, but still it does not have any power and water connection