Bhopal: In an unusual incident, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Alok Sharma along with additional commissioner MP Singh sat near Saifia College on Thursday morning in the water puddle to vent out their anger against Public Works Department (PWD).
They claimed that PWD was responsible for water logging there. The water logging due to clogged drains in the areas connecting the college derails the normal life in the rainy season. According to sources, the water logging is caused in the area mostly by water overflowing from Motiya lake which reaches Siddique Hassan Khan and which eventually flows into Munshi Hasan Khan lake.
A proposed nullah to divert the route of drains to some other direction remains on paper. Experts opine that if this nullah had come into existence, the water flow would have been in different direction which could have by and large solved the problem.
Similarly, two shops were bulldozed near the area last year where Sharma and his team had staged a sit-in, for the construction of a nullah- but this nullah also exists in proposal. Over 55 chambers meant for cleaning the nulahs are hardly used, this which keeps the nullahs clogged for the whole year.
Locals say that the BMC staff only cleans the chambers but nothing is done for cleaning the filth between two chambers which keeps the nullahs choked. Former corporator Shahid Ali who is also a resident of the area said that there was a nullah which was to be built to divert the water of the lakes, Motiya lake, Siddique Hassan Khan lake and Munshi Hasan Khan lake.
He said that the bhoom pujan for the nullah could never be done otherwise the problem of water logging could have been reduce by over 40 per cent. He also said that a nullah was proposed near Bagh Mufti Hussain Khan ki basti which is also incomplete.
“How can you expect the issue to be sorted out if such projects are still in the limbo?”, he asked. Mayor Alok Sharma said that, PWD is responsible for the water logging there as the road belongs to it. He said that I have been urging the PWD and CPA authorities to ensure a channel so that no agency interferes in the work of any other agency as in the city, there remains confusion as which road belongs to which agency whiles the public’s mindset is that the BMC is responsible for all the hassles that it face.
