(Slug) Down the drain
(Blurb) Sewer gets blocked due to waste thrown by vendors, efforts are on to remove encroachments, says AAP leader
When the heavens open up, all hell breaks loose on Amritsar’s Heritage Street. Built at a cost of ₹160 crore, the showcase project of the Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government was inaugurated on October 24, 2016. Eight years on, the project aimed at beautifying the path to the holiest of Sikh shrines is a picture of neglect. A spell of rain is enough to reduce the stretch from Town Hall to the Golden Temple to a stinking waterway due to poor sewage disposal and civic apathy.
“The sewage system has not been maintained for years. During each rainy season, knee-deep filthy water gets accumulated, causing inconvenience to devotees and tourists. The Amritsar municipal corporation has ignored upkeep,” says Amritsar Vikas Manch patron Kulwant Singh Ankhi.
The stretch from Jallianwala Bagh to Town Hall is a low-lying area. Despite stormwater drainage, the area remains inundated for hours after a spell of rain.
Littering and poor sanitation aggravate the problem. While visitors struggle to find bins to dispose of garbage, shopkeepers complain that sanitation workers don’t maintain the area regularly. “Apart from waterlogging, we face the issue of sanitation. The safai workers are not doing their duty,” says Neeraj Kumar, who runs a refreshment shop on the street for over 30 years.
Dilbag Singh, who runs a shop of Sikh kakars and traditional weapons along the street, said, “Ever since the Heritage Street was established, heavy rain has been triggering waterlogging. Authorities should look into it as this place is visited by more than one lakh devotees daily. What kind of impression do they carry by wading through waterlogged stretches to reach the shrine?”
{{/usCountry}}Dilbag Singh, who runs a shop of Sikh kakars and traditional weapons along the street, said, “Ever since the Heritage Street was established, heavy rain has been triggering waterlogging. Authorities should look into it as this place is visited by more than one lakh devotees daily. What kind of impression do they carry by wading through waterlogged stretches to reach the shrine?”
{{/usCountry}}Stray dogs, beggars, illegal parking of vehicles and unruly movement of e-rickshaws on Heritage Street spoil the peaceful ambience. “I’ve been coming here for the past four years and have only seen things go from bad to worse,” says Darshan Singh, 62, a devotee from Delhi.
Gaurav Kumar, 35, a local devotee said, “Passing through the inundated street is causing health hazards for devotees. This issue is raised during every rainy season but the government is turning blind eye toward this situation.”
“The municipal corporation should provide at least shelter to visitors at places along the route keeping in view summers and rainy days. Trees offering shade could have enhanced the beauty of the place. Water ATMs on the stretch are out of order,” says Ankhi.
Repeated attempts to contact MC commissioner Harpreet Singh proved futile as he did not respond to calls. MC executive engineer Surjit Singh said: “We have a stormwater drainage system. The street was waterlogged a few days ago but the main reason was an electricity cut imposed by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) due to which we could not use machines to pump out the water speedily.”
AAP leader Jarnail Singh Dhot, who represented the entire Heritage Street area in Municipal Corporation House as councillor, said, “Yes, the problem is persisting, but we are making efforts to fix it. I daily bring it to the notice of MC commissioner and other officials.”
He added, “We face the problem of waterlogging when sewer pipes are blocked with disposable items owing to the encroachment by vendors. We are trying to remove all kinds of encroachment from the street to have a permanent solution to waterlogging.”
Senior SAD leader and SGPC member Bhai Ram Singh said, “The then deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, took special interest in executing this beautification project that gave a facelift to the surrounding of Sri Darbar Sahib. After the SAD-BJP regime, no government took care of it.”
Sakshi Sahni, professor, planning, Guru Nanak Dev University, who did a research work on Heritage Street,said, “They covered the entire area of the street with concrete and no green area is left there. In such a situation, how can rainwater drain?”
Though the street’s maintenance work is routinely carried out, no special allocation has ever been made to revive its sheen, said people in the civic body familiar with the development.