E-Paper
Lucknow Nagar Nigam cooling rooms fail to provide promised relief
LMC officials claim that resources are quickly exhausted due to heavy footfall in the early morning hours.
A peek into the cooling room at the Nagar Nigam Headquarters in Lalbagh reveals its sorry state: an ORS container holding only regular water and an empty carton labelled ‘juice’ among other missing amenities. Lucknow municipal corporation (LMC) officials claim that resources are quickly exhausted due to heavy footfall in the early morning hours.
These rooms are meant to be equipped with fans, coolers, cold water, ORS water, and juice boxes, as well as seating arrangements for pedestrians and travelers to take a break. Nine of these cooling rooms have been installed at each of the eight Nagar Nigam zonal offices, and another at the Nagar Nigam HQ.
In the afternoon, the most one can hope for at this ‘cooling room’ is some peace and quiet, and a place to sit. It has only one fan, one cooler which does not serve the purpose, and two matkas or earthen pots labelled ‘water’ and ‘ORS mixed water’. The former was nearly empty, and the latter held room temperature regular water. A box supposed to hold juice boxes also lay empty at 3:30 PM, as a singular rickshaw driver lounged on a settee in the corner.
When asked, municipal commissioner Indrajit Singh said, “The reason they are empty by afternoon is because the footfall is highest in the daytime, and by afternoon all the water and juice is over.” He further added, “Currently we are unable to focus on consistent maintenance and refilling, as most of our manpower is being directed to the Akbar Nagar area for the demolition and relocation project.”
Besides these nine cooling rooms, similar cooling rooms have been installed in over 20 locations across zones, erected by private organisations in partnership with the Lucknow municipal corporation, the maintenance of which is also overseen by the LMC.
