Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 16
After years of neglecting the drain below the railway tracks Dimapur, the Railway authorities on Thursday initiated cleaning the already clogged drain with manpower from the Nagaland State Disaster Response Force and Dimapur Municipal Council.
Flooding in the vicinity is a yearly occurrence, however, this time, flooding in the residential areas was compounded by the clogged drain causing the sewage to flush back seeping into homes at Westyard, Chatteswari, Manipuri and Railway Bazaar colonies affecting around 250 households.
Residents of the area complained that water and vector borne diseases were affecting mostly children reporting cases of vomiting, headaches and other related diseases. Talking to this reporter, residents blamed the apathy of the railways authorities for neglecting the drain under its jurisdiction for more than 100 years. “The drain running more than 150 feet has not been cleaned even once since its construction and this time it is fully clogged and the sewage has started seeping into our homes and locality causing various diseases to people,” one of the residents said.
The locality people have been contributing funds and engaging man power since the last one month to clear clogged drain but with less result. They said that the current cleaning exercise was slow and appealed the responsible authorities to speed up as the people were facing numerous problems.
The public in the area expressed gratitude to the Department of Health & Family Welfare for taking stock of the situation affecting the neighbourhood. They also thanked all the authorities involved in the drain cleaning exercise for their efforts.
On Thursday, the combined team of drain cleaning workers dug the ground and drilled holes into the concrete drain to pump out sewage and garbage. DMC Administrator, H. Atokhe Aye said four water pumps and other machineries were used besides man power from SDRF, DMC and Railways to clear the clogged drain.
Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Municipal Affairs and Economics & Statistics, R Tohanba also inspected the ongoing clearing works of the clogged drainage at Railway Bazaar and also interacted with residents affected and displaced by inundation.
Four colonies adjoining the Dimapur Railway Station including Westyard, Railway Bazaar, Manipuri colony and Chatteswari, have been inundated since the last two weeks due to the clogged drainage underneath the railway tracks.
The residents had earlier served an ultimatum to the Railway authorities to clear the drainage or face public ire. The parliamentary secretary accompanied by CEO, Dimapur Municipal Council, Atokhe Ayemi, SDO (C), Moa Sangtam, officials of Municipal Affairs and Police inspected the clearing of the clogged drainage, which is threatening to cause major health problems as Railway Bazaar and adjoining colonies have been inundated with stank water for the last two weeks.
Tohanba appealed to the residents to have patience as the Municipal Affairs department, administration, DMC and police are trying their best to mitigate the hardships of the affected residents. At the same time, Tohanba reminded that the main cause of clogged drainage and narrowing of drains was due to land encroachment.
He said the administration, DMC, police and Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority are jointly coordinating with the Railways in clearing the clogged drainage. Some of the displaced residents narrated their plight due to the inundation that has affected their routine lives including children missing their classes.
On Thursday morning, officials of the Health & Family Welfare department visited the affected areas and spread DDT and undertook other measures to check outbreak of malaria and other water-borne diseases. Residents said at least 1,500 have been affected by the artificial flood.
