EWS Colony residents bear brunt of civic body’s apathy

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 16

Shivnath (65) and his family members are forced to pass through sewer water accumulated outside his house and in street at Economically Weaker Section (EWS) Colony for past around six months, courtesy apathetic MC Ludhiana. Now, stinking water flows into some houses too. Besides, the overflowing sewer water is getting mixed in water supply line.

When some area residents raised voice over unsanitary conditions, an MC employee had allegedly threatened them of snapping their sewer connection. Meanwhile, the elected representatives also seemed to be in deep slumber as they failed to pay any attention for redressal of the issue.

Shivnath, who sells vegetables, said they have been suffering a lot due to overflowing sewers in the street. “We have placed bricks to make a path through accumulated water to reach our house. When we had earlier raised voice over poor sanitary condition, an MC employee had misbehaved with us. He threatened to disconnect the sewer connections to the houses. The problem related to sewer system has not been resolved till date,” he said.

Dharam Goyal, a resident, said, “We are forced to live in unhygienic conditions. Now, the stinking water flows in to some houses located in the street on backside of Jacha Bacha Hospital. There is extreme risk of spreading of diseases here. The MC staff concerned had earlier visited the area. A road portion was also dug up to correct the fault in a sewer line but the work was not completed. Our voice is being ignored. Now, some persons in our street have fallen ill due to the unsanitary conditions. It is difficult for us to breath due to the stink emanating from accumulated water. We want to make an appeal to the higher authorities to resolve the problem at the earliest.”

Many labourers, daily wagers and those belonging to economically weaker section of the society live in the colony. The development has taken a backseat in the area.

MC Superintending Engineer, Rajinder Singh said they will look into the matter and problem will be resolved at the earliest.