There is no respite from waterlogging for the residents in the summer capital for the fourth consecutive day today as rain continued to lash the Valley.
Residents blamed the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for failing to dewater all areas. For the last four days, commuters have been facing difficulties due to inundated roads and lanes hampering traffic movement.
“Dewatering will not help because it has been raining for the last four days. It needs a permanent solution. If the drainage problem is not solved, we will be forced to protest,” said a resident of Natipora, Budsha Nagar.
The problem is even worse in low-lying colonies of Srinagar like Indira Nagar, where residents said they could not step out of their houses due to waterlogging.
“We have been appealing the Cantonment Board authorities to solve the problem, but they have failed to give a permanent solution as drains often get blocked resulting in waterlogging,” said a resident of Indira Nagar. “The water sometimes comes into our houses as weel,” he said.
Most of the drains in Srinagar have lost their carrying capacity and are lying defunct from the last two years. No major drainage projects have been undertaken by the authorities concerned to end the woes of people.
The floods in September 2014 brought devastation to Srinagar and gave setback to most of the civic infrastructure here where the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) faced losses worth more than Rs 400 crore.
The drainage in Srinagar was the worst-hit as drains that were functioning got blocked. The overflowing drains in Regal Chowk, MA Road, old city, Babadem and many other parts have added to the difficulties of the residents.
However, officials from the district administration said they were putting their best efforts in dewatering the city.
“The Fire and Emergency Services Department today installed dewatering pumps at various waterlogged areas of Srinagar, including Maisuma, Pantha Chowk, SBI Bank Residency Road, Hari Singh High Street, Abi Guzar, Exhibition, Women’s College, Sumander Bagh, Haj House, Ali Jan Road, Cargo near Police Station, Revenue Quarters Bemina, Batmaloo, Maternity Hospital Sanat Nagar and JVC Hospital Bemina,” said an official.
They added that the Srinagar Municipal Corporation and other departments concerned also conducted dewatering.
“For the convenience of the public, telephone numbers of control rooms established by various departments have already been notified,” the official maintained.
11 rain-hit families shifted to safety in Ganderbal
The police on Sunday said it had shifted 11 families who were affected by rain and landslides to safer location in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
A police spokesman said a retaining wall at Rangil village of Ganderbal, the district adjacent to Srinagar, collapsed and damaged two houses of Abdul Qadir and Abdul Hamid Mir. Both the families were shifted to safer places, the spokesman said.
In Wanyarm-Wangth, a major landslide damaged several houses, the police said. The houses of Rehman Shah Paktoon, Mohammad Ayoub Bhat, Lateef Bhat, Abdul Satar Paswal and Mohammad Qasim Paswal got damaged in the landslide following which the police evacuated nine families from the village to safer locations, the spokesman said.
Rain lashes Valley, waterlogging woes remain
