Jalandhar is finally breathing a sigh of relief after 3 days of continuous rainfall. On September 4, after an early shower, the city witnessed a bright sunny day. However, jus two days back i.e. on September 1, entire Jalandhar was crippled with severe water-logging.
On September 1, one of Jalandhar's biggest mobile shops named Underground, located in Model Town near Mata Rani Chowk, suffered extensive waterlogging. The shop, widely regarded as one of the most popular in the city, is owned by Jasprit Singh Sethi.
Sethi estimated losses of around Rs 3–4 crore. Sethi blamed the Municipal Corporation for the damage, stating that the waterlogging occurred due to uncleaned sewage lines which caused blockages.
Notably, apart from Underground, several other nearby shops also reported losses.
On September 1, Jalandhar Mayor Vaneet Dhir gave two major reasons behind the sudden 'so severe' water logging problem in Jalandhar.
"The first reason is that this time the rainfall has broken the 1988 record. The amount of rain that fell was nearly three times more than the designed capacity of the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs).”
The second major reason, Mayor Vaneet Dhir explained, was related to the Pholriwal STP. "The STP operates on a hotline connection provided by the electricity board. Last night, a fault occurred in this hotline supply. Attempts were made to run the plant using generators, but it could not function at full capacity. Now the plant has started operating again, and gradually, the waterlogging problem will be resolved today,” added Vaneet Dhir.
When asked why even two hours of rainfall causes waterlogging in several parts of Jalandhar, the Mayor stated that the city’s drainage network requires super suction cleaning of the main lines.
"This super suction has not been carried out so far because there were certain objections raised regarding the project. Most of those objections have now been cleared. It will be a project worth around Rs 28 crore, and once executed, it will significantly improve the city’s drainage system,” concluded Vaneet Dhir.
