Open drains overflowing during rain bane for city life

Rampant urbanisation is adding pressure on the existing drainage and sewage system of the Haridwar city. The city mostly having open drains-as per the 2011 census, only 44.5 % of the urban households in the country have closed drainage, 37.3% have open drainage and 18.2% have no way out for the waste water-the encroachment on the drains is adding further to the woes with the drains overflowing during every rainy season.

Old city areas like those near Har Ki Paudi have been grappling with an under- capacity sewage network for years. There are some areas where new sewer lines have been laid, but things being done wrongly, the problems have been aggravated instead of being solved. Many areas get waterlogged even if it drizzles and it leads to long traffic snarls. The eight big drains in the city take the water out of the city and most of them drain into the Ganga. There are smaller 107 drains connected with the main drains which are often choked, resulting in overflowing at places.

Former Mayor of Haridwar Manoj Garga said, “A planning has been firmed up for the seasonal drains. Once it is implemented the problem of water-logging would be over once and for all. We have carried out anti-encroachment drives many times in the city to free the drains from the squatters and it would continue in the coming days too with full vigour.”

Not just the open drains, there are also ‘nalhas’ flowing at various locations in the city. They overflow during the rainy season every year. Routine cleaning of all the drains through manual and mechanised means is done, claim the municipal corporation officials. But the residents said that what the officers claim is  far from the reality.

A resident of Subhash Nagar Sachin Saini said that contrary to the civic body’s claim, the picture remains the same despite the body awarding drain clearing contracts to some agencies before the onset of the monsoon. “What we find every year is that the municipal corporation gives contract for cleaning of the drains every year before the monsoon. But things on the ground remain the same. We find the drains overflow following every spell of rain,” he rued.

Jwalapur area seems to be the worst of all. Open drains and sewers and non-existent drainage system are the bane of life here. The worst affected areas are Katehra Bazar, Mohalla kassaban, Jhanda Chowk, Ambedkar Nagar, Bakra market and Lodha mandi. “Instances of children accidentally falling into the open drains  happen during the rainy season. Drains are invisible when the road is under  water. Things are really grim which beg for solution which is enduring,” said a Jwalapur resident Ashwani Kumar.