Haryana Urban Development Authority, municipal corporation pass the buck as Panchkula smarts

PANCHKULA: Instead of tackling waterlogging effectively, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and municipal corporation (MC) are playing a blame game, while claiming that it is the other’s responsibility to ensure proper drainage of rain water. While the MC claims checking waterlogging is not its job, HUDA alleges that sweepers deployed by the MC choke the gullies as they dump garbage into these, resulting in waterlogging.
“We have a proper underground drainage system but the MC sweepers dump dirt and garbage in road gullies resulting in blockage. As a consequence, even when it rains a bit, the water gets collected and people face problems,” said HUDA’s superintending engineer (SE), N K Verma. He added, “We have raised this issue with the MC several times but to no avail.” MC executive officer, O P Sehag, said, “MC has nothing to do with the issue of waterlogging. It is the public health wing of the HUDA that has to check it.” In all this, it is the residents, who suffer. “Whenever we go to the MC officials for help during rains, when water gets accumulated in front of our house, they are quite rude. When we contact HUDA officials, they put the blame at MC’s doorstep,” said Rajesh Tandon, a Sector 20 resident.
Varuni Shikhawat, a resident of Sector 2, said, “When you contact the authorities concerned, they simply pass the buck. I don’t think this problem can be resolved in such an atmosphere.”
Dealing with waterlogging is the joint responsibility of HUDA and MC. However, HUDA and MC have been shifting the blame on to each other for a long time.