An inundated road outside the Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Inter-State Bus Terminal in Amritsar on Friday
© Vishal KumarAn inundated road outside the Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Inter-State Bus Terminal in Amritsar on Friday
Rain for around six hours on Friday not just left the entire holy city flooded, but also exposed monsoon-ready claims of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation. Irked residents raised questions on crores of rupees spent in the name of desilting.

Not just low-lying areas, the Heritage Street, Katra Jaimal Singh, Katra Ahluwalia, Outer Ring Road, GT Road, BRTS lanes, bus stand, Mall Road, MM Malvia Road, Majitha Road, Batala Road, Mall Road, Putlighar, Khalsa Collage lane, SSSS Chowk and several areas of the walled city remained inundated.


Officialspeak

It was an extremely heavy downpour. It was beyond the capacity of our existing system. As there is no storm water sewer in the city, so it takes a few hours to drain rainwater. We operated disposal pumps without any disruption. Rainwater was drained out within two hours because of desilting. Malwinder Singh Jaggi, MC Commissioner
The rainwater entered houses in low lying areas in Inderpuri, Islambaad and Kot Khalsa. As all major sewers remained choked, the rainwater remained stagnant on roads throughout the day.

A car stuck in an open manhole on the Outer Circular road.
A car stuck in an open manhole on the Outer Circular road.
Apart from this, the rain also exposed the true picture Heritage Street. The rainwater entered shops around the Golden Temple and devotees could be seen navigating through stagnant water.
Residentspeak

Waterlogging is a regular problem. The rainwater enters our shops everytime and damages our goods. Today, rainwater damaged my goods worth Rs1 lakh. Similar situation was witnessed last year. Insurance companies do not cover such damage and nobody listens to us. It is a curse to have a shop on the Heritage Street. Rahul, a shopkeeper at Heritage Street
Commuters, especially motorcyclists and pedestrians, had a tough time. Several vehicles got stuck due to waterlogging, which further led to massive snarls in the city. Supply of milk and vegetables, too, got affected.

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