Choked sewer choking residents of Reshimbagh

Nagpur: For the last 20 days, at least 17 families of Reshimbagh have been staying in abjectly unhygienic conditions. The drainage line in their locality is choked and sewage water is seeping into their homes. The drainage overflows all the time and sewage is flowing back into toilets.
Every appeal to Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s health department to take correct it and get sewers flowing again has fallen on deaf ears. Now, the residents have decided to approach the state and central governments.
Anil Hatewar, one of the affected residents, said, “For last 20-25 days we are facing problem due to choked sewer line.” NMC has identified rampant dumping of cow dung into the sewers by a house-owner as the reason behind choked line as but has taken no action against him.
Residents problem has existed for last 12 to 15 years before it got worse now, claimed residents. “We made repeated complaints to NMC resolve the issue but to no avail,” Hatewar claimed. Now it has aggravated. TOI saw sewer water seeping back from toilets and bathrooms of residents. “All sludge and waste of sewage enters our home,” said Hatewar.
The situation is so grim they can’t use even toilets. Hatewar said every morning he had to first clean the toilet manually and only then his family members, including his 76-year-old mother and six-year-old son, can use it. The stagnant sewage water has also become ideal spot for mosquitoes and flies breeding.
Chandan Fartode, another resident of the locality, said the overflowing sewage was also polluting groundwater. Well water of almost every house in this locality is contaminated, residents said.
Assistant municipal commissioner Raju Bhivgade of Hanuman Nagar zone admitted receiving complaints from the residents since last many months and said that they had cleared the choked line. Now the problem has returned. “During inspection we found cow dung was blocking the line,” he said.
He said there is one owner who kept cattle illegally in the locality and was dumping cow dung and other waste in sewer line itself. “I have already issued instructions to the zone officials to penalise the owner,” he said. The work of cleaning the line has also started, he said and assured to resolve the issue at the earliest.