Waterlogging major poll issue in Ambala City, Cantt segments

Waterlogging and other civic problems have become major poll issues in Ambala City and Ambala Cantonment Assembly segments.

The opposition parties and candidates have been strongly raising the issues with urban voters to secure their position in contest.

Viplove Singla, president of Jan Jagriti Sangathan, said, “The problem of waterlogging in Ambala City has been a long-pending issue and no government has been able to resolve this. The famous cloth market of Ambala and colonies get waterlogged after a little rain. We don’t blame only the BJP, but even the governments of other parties failed to take adequate steps to provide relief to the people of Ambala. With the elections around the corner, politicians are in the field again with the promise of resolving the issue, but they should make a time-bound promise and tell us how they are going to solve it.”

Gian Prakash Kansal, a resident of sector-9, said, “The government has failed to resolve issue of waterlogging in the residential areas. Streets remain waterlogged for days after rain. Despite raising the issue multiple times, the only thing we got was an assurance. Besides this, there have been multiple instances when the water being supplied to colonies was muddy or contaminated, which in no way was fit for human consumption.”

Similarly, in the Ambala Cantonment segment, waterlogging in the low-lying areas and in the colonies situated on the Tangri riverbed has been a major issue.

The INLD, Congress, JJP and Independent candidates have been cornering the BJP government over the issues of waterlogging and Tangri in this segment.

Nathu Ram, a resident, said, “People living in the colonies situated on the Tangri riverbed have suffered heavy losses over the last few years and the government has failed to provide a permanent solution. After the rain water recedes, the streets are left with sludge and mud and the empty plots become breeding spots for mosquitoes.”

INLD candidate Onkar Singh said, “While the BJP government claims that it has spent crores of rupees on the development of Ambala Cantonment, the situation on the ground level hasn’t changed. The government has failed to even resolve the issue of waterlogging and people have suffered losses during the floods last year and again witnessed waterlogging due to rain this year. The people of Ambala Cantonment live in a constant fear of floods due to the Tangri river. The depth of the river should have been increased, besides strengthening its embankments.”

Similarly, Chitra Sarwara, Independent candidate, said, “Poor roads and waterlogging are a couple of major issues and we have seen people getting injured and suffering during the rainy days. We took out yatras to raise the issue of poor roads in Ambala but the government has failed to address these issues. The people of Ambala have seen the situation over the past 10 years and they will vote for change.”