Srinagar: More than a day after rainfall stopped in the city, a locality in Noorbagh area on Srinagar outskirts continues to remain in a pool of water, leaving its inhabitants restricted to their homes while the authorities seem to be in no hurry to mitigate the problems faced by people.
Dozens of houses in Takanwaripora locality of Noorbagh have been left unattended since Wednesday after the incessant rainfall for the past four days stopped. Not only are the lanes inundated but the water has also seeped into the lawns of certain houses, making it impossible for residents to come out of their homes.
The residents of the locality complained on Thursday that they were facing huge inconvenience due to the inaction of the authorities in removing the water logging.
“We’re facing severe water-logging problems for the past few days. The water has reached our doorsteps but we’ve been lucky enough that it hasn’t yet entered our homes. Our entire locality has been turned into a pool and no one has paid any attention till yet. There is almost 10 inches of water in our lanes and in the spaces around our homes,” Mohammad Hameed, a resident of Hajam Mohalla in Takanwarpora, told Kashmir Reader.
The acute water-logging problems, he said, had also prevented the school-going children of the locality from reaching their school. “The students in our locality have not been able to go to their schools for the past two days as the lanes as well as paths leading to several homes are submerged under water. We along with our children are suffering, but no one is listening,” Hameed added.
Another resident, Abdul Khaliq Hajam, said the authorities had not provided any relief to people affected by the rains even after two days. “We tried reaching certain officials of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), but even after two days no one has bothered to pay any heed to our problems. Every time we go out, we have to return with our shoes drenched. Our locality has been turned into a pool and the situation goes on unnoticed,” he rued.
Ahsan-ul-Haq, SE Drainage at SMC, told Kashmir Reader that they were making every possible effort to reach all the water logged localities of Srinagar city and conduct dewatering operations as soon as possible. However, he said, the de-watering operations were taking time as the water-logging problems have propped at many localities across city.
“We’ve been on toes since morning, we are conducting de-watering operations effectively in all the affected areas of the city. It is a time-consuming process. We can’t directly switch from a particular area of city to another. All the areas will be covered in the next few days,” Ahsan said

KALEEM GEELANI