E-Paper
5th road cave-in incident reported from Ludhiana this month
A portion of the road caved-in at Saggu Chowk area in Ludhiana on Sunday amid incessant rains for the second consecutive day; this is the fifth road cave-in incident reported in the city this September and officials have cited the decades old brick sewerage lines as the reason behind the repeated incidents
A portion of the road caved-in at Saggu Chowk on Sunday amid incessant rains for the second consecutive day.
This is the fifth road cave-in incident reported in the city this September. Officials have cited the decades old brick sewerage lines as the reason behind the repeated incidents.
MC superintending engineer Ravinder Garg said that the wall of the machine hole chamber of the drain line collapsed, due to which there was leakage and it resulted in soil erosion. He said the chamber’s wall may have collapsed when wires were being placed under the stretch. He said that barricades have been placed around the damaged portion and the repair work will start on Monday as the area is currently wet.
In 2011, a truck driver had died after the road caved in near Saggu Chowk
Brick sewerage lines also move through Kaka Marriage Palace Road and Model Town Extension, where major cave-ins have been reported in the past. The line on Kaka Marriage Palace Road has caved-in thrice in as many years.
On September 12, a major portion of Ishmeet Singh Road had caved-in near Shastri Nagar railway crossing, and the same portion collapsed again on September 21.
Potholes rear their head in multiple areas
At many places the road cover weathered away, exposing the potholes once again. “Road cave-ins and waterlogging have become a yearly ritual. Soon, the water on the road will dry up, and commuters will have to deal with dust and pollution. The civic authorities have purchased smog guns and now is the right time to use them, especially on Ferozepur Road where the elevated road is being constructed,” said Anirudh Jain, a resident of civil lines.
Traffic police had to restrict vehicular movement amid ongoing maintenance work at Ishmeet Chowk in Shastri Nagar, resulting in traffic snarls.
148.4 mm rainfall in 24 hours:
Even as the monthly average rainfall for September is 109mm , the city received record 148.4 mm rainfall in just the past 24 hours, Indian Meteorological Department officials said. While overcast skies prevailed in the afternoon, it remained partly cloudy conditions prevailed for the rest of the day.
This is for the second consecutive year that the withdrawing monsoon rainfall has left the city in complete deluge.
The incessant rain also led to a dip in the temperature. While the maximum temperature was recorded today at 26.2°C, 6 °C less than the normal temperature, the minimum temperature also witnessed a dip of .4°C and settled at 21.7 °C. As per the Chandigarh meteorological centre, the weather in Ludhiana will remain partly cloudy for next few days.
