Millions spent on drainage go down the drains during rains
Commercial hub, residential colonies submerge before floods; Lal Bazar house collapses, others develop cracks
Lal Bazar residents wouldn’t ever have it in their wildest imagination that this raised ground locality would deluge not because of any Jhelum or Dal breaches but due to drainage network which was supposed to provide them relief during wet spells.
But for Manzoor Ahmed Khan and Afshana Khan the worst came true Wednesday when their house collapsed in the wee hours Wednesday. 4:30 AM the two families were in the house when with a loud bang of tumbling bricks their house collapsed.
Luck favored their lives. But they came out alive only to see many other houses in the neighborhood having developed cracks. Coming out of his house in navel-deep waters, Khurshid Ahmed Hamdani said his dwelling too has developed cracks. Similar tale was narrated by
Nazir Ahmed Khan. The drainage constructed by Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) for millions has failed while concerned MLA Abid Hussain Ansari said he would personally look into the matter.
But Lal Bazar is not alone. From City center of Lal Chowk to Nallah Mar to Hyder Pora, almost all the areas having drainage network in place face inundation during rains.
LAL CHOWK MESS
In fact on Saturday when it started to rain, the business hub of Lal Chowk remained the first victim. Overflow of drains flooded the area, overnight. “Infact this inundation ahead of any floods was enough to devastate stocks at many shops,” complained Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation President Muhammad Yasin Khan adding that this has been a routine for other adjoining areas like Sarai Bala, Regal Chowk and Goni Khan.
Khan accused the government of treating historic marketplaces like Lal Chowk as nothing but “Hawker Zones.” “Given the poor drainage and poor preparedness to face floods, the government wants the shopkeepers to take back stocks home every evening like some hawker… This is nothing but ridiculous.”
Jehangir Chowk on the other hand is equally messy. For the past around a decade, a major portion of this busy road remains inundated during showers.
Just last year ahead of floods the authorities discovered the cause of waterlogging when it was found that the Green Sewer –benefitting the area since Dogra rule had blocked during the construction of Jehangir Chowk flyover in 2005.
SHADY DRAINAGE PROJECTS
Though in the past few years several new drainage projects were executed, most of them failed during rains, which was actually when they are needed the most. These include the projects executed by Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) in south City, by Lakes and Waterways Development Authority(LAWDA) in the east, by the National Building Construction Corporation(NBCC) in the north west, Srinagar Municipal Corporation(SMC) and the Urban Environment Engineering Department.
Observers said a main cause of failure of these projects has been absence of proper audit of the project efficiency. “Spending on drains has literally been sending millions down the drains to benefit the engineers who execute these projects as there has been no audit of the works,” said a retired chief engineer adding “Unless some accountability commission probes such projects and identifies the culprits, drainage network won’t improve.”
‘ALIEN ENGINEERS’
Though after the September 2014 floods, there was a need to improve drainage work in the City, the government handed over this prestigious charge into hands of an Executive Engineer who allegedly has never before worked in Kashmir than to talk of Srinagar. “This drainage assignment should have been handed over to some efficient engineer preferably REC pass-out, who would be well versed with the topography of this City,” said a senior official adding that presently things were messy with Drainage Division.
OFFICIAL PLEA
Officials as usual pleaded the drainage failure. Maintaining that only 30 percent of Srinagar has been covered under drainage, they said most of the drains were left defunct by last year floods. “Most of the machinery at the dewatering plants is decades old, while silt brought by floods added to the mess,” said an engineer.
When contacted Superintending Engineer City Drainage Ishtiaq Ahmed Shah Raaja said there was also a shortage of additional dewatering pumps. “Against the need of 500 mechanical dewatering pumps we’ve mere 50 units to bank on, which is too less to cater to this City,” he said.
Works Minister and MLA Amira Kadal Syed Altaf Bukhari also attributes the waterlogging to the drainage “left defunct by floods.”
