Will submit proposal to SMC Commissioner for construction of drainage network: SE UEED

Srinagar, April 23: Residents of Kawadara in the old city of Srinagar Friday decried the poor drainage system which they said often leads of water-logging in the area.

A group of residents in Sheikh-ul-Alam Colony of the area held a protest against the “administration’s apathy” demanding installation of dewatering pumps to drain out the stagnant water for hassle-free movement of people.

They expressed strong resentment over the “lackadaisical approach” of Urban Environmental Engineering Department (UEED) for failing to flush out the stagnant water in the area.

“Today’s protest is against the poor drainage mechanism of UEED in our area who failed to address our genuine issue for the last many years”, Manzoor Ahmad, a local resident told Rising Kashmir.

He said the area witnesses water-logging with few millimeters of precipitation, resulting in the area getting drenched out round-the-year causing inconvenience to the locals.

“During rains our area gets completely drenched even during little rainfall. As the result, locals of the area can’t venture out. Even elders and youth are unable to approach Mosques amid the inundation”, he added.

Another local alleged that the concerned departments including UEED and SMC failed to address the issue despite being approached a number of times.

“We contacted concerned offices of UEED and SMC several times but to no avail. They don’t even bother to visit the area to take stock of the hardships locals are facing”, Imtiyaz Ahmad, another local said.

“We are always told that work can’t be started till availability of adequate funds”, locals said.

They alleged that instead of ensuring the basic facility, some officials of the departments have told the residents to manage funds at their own level and then work will be taken up accordingly.

They appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene into the matter and ensure a dewatering pump in the area is installed so that stagnant water could be drained out from the area.

While speaking to Rising Kashmir, SE Drainage Ehsan-ul-Haq admitted the hardships being faced by the concerned people.

The SE said, he along with other officials made a detailed tour of the area on Friday and took stock of the situation.

“I along with other officials visited the area and took stock of the situation. As of now there is no water-logging, however being a low-lying area it witnesses inundation in rainy season”, he said.

He said at the preliminary stage, the drains in the area will be cleaned so that locals of the area will get a sigh of relief.

He added that the drains in the area are decades old and have got chocked. For reconstruction of new drains in the area the department will make a proposal and submit it before the SMC Commissioner for approval, the SE said.

“We will submit a proposal to SMC Commissioner. Once funds would be available the construction work on drains in the area would be taken up”, he added.