LUDHIANA: The careless attitude of the municipal corporation can lead to some major accident in Model Town Gole market (one of the most visited markets of the city), where the MC officials have left a trench open after digging was undertaken for laying of new water supply lines in the past few days. The residents and shopkeepers in the market rued that after rainfall on Friday night, now the trench is filled with water and it can turn riskier for commuters. A 10-year-old boy had narrow escape on Friday as he fell in the trench when his bicycle slipped from there but luckily did not get hurt.
A shopkeeper in the market, Arvind Sharma, said, “We were facing water scarcity in the market so we were continuously complaining about it to the officials of the operation and maintenance cell. The officials finally acted and work on the laying of a new water supply line was started. We were told that work will be completed in a day or two, but now over 10 days have passed and it is still in a similar condition.”
He said he had submitted a complaint against the ‘lethargic’ attitude of the civic body officials to the principal secretary, local bodies department, Chandigarh. He said it seemed that the officials were waiting for some tragedy to happen.
A resident of Model Town, Gurpal Grewal, who’s son fell into the trench said, “We were not at home and my 10-year-old younger son Jaanveer Grewal was riding his bicycle on that road. Since it is slippery, he lost his balance on the bicycle and fell into the trench.” He said by God’s grace he did not get hurt and some nearby shopkeepers helped him to get up. He said it was quite risky to leave such trenches open and at some locations due to leakage in the pipeline the road had also become slippery and in future could become dangerous for people.
Meanwhile, area councillor Parvinder Lapran said, “It is quite unfortunate if any child has met with any accident at that place. It is the duty of the civic body officials to look into the safety of people. Next time, it can lead to some major tragedy.” He said in the area there was a major problem of water supply as the existing water supply line was in dire need of replacement and it had leakages at various locations. He said now almost 200-foot-long water supply line was being laid down so that residents should not face problem getting water supply properly.
The sub divisional officer of O&M cell, Anshul Garcha, said, “The matter is in the knowledge of senior officials and it has been conveyed to the contractor to complete the work as soon as possible. But after rainfall on Friday night the trench got filled with water. So, first we will check that and then work will be completed.”
Later, when the matter was highlighted by the shopkeepers and residents the MC officials came into action and work was started again at the site.