Himachal flooding: In Una, rainwater finds its natural course; locals an end to their woes

“It has been a sad situation. Rainwater has been accumulating at the DC house and coming from outside as well. The situation became very bad during the tenures of K R Bharti and Sandeep Kumar,” says Sanju.

K R Bharti, who was Una DC from July 2009 to May 2012, recalls that the water once entered the ground floor of the official accommodation. “The water came all of a sudden. It was knee-deep. It was horrible. It was tough. We made a great effort to flush out the water. A great deal of damage was done to my personal belongings.”

Bharti, who retired as special secretary (finance), blames it on the drainage system. He says even the building housing the DC office and the court complex were affected by waterlogging.

Sanjay Kumar, the oldest staff member at the official residence of Una Deputy Commissioner. (Express photo)

Sandeep Kumar says he spent two rainy seasons at Una during his tenure as DC from June 2019 to October 2020. “When the water came inside the house for the first time, we were not prepared. My personal belongings were damaged. It was a bad experience. But we were prepared when the water came the next time.”

Kumar, who is now special secretary (technical education), too, finds fault with the drainage system which is not in tune with the low-lying area.

Initially, the DC residence was a single-storey building. But keeping in mind the waterlogging problem the inmates faced, the second floor was added later, claims Satpal Singh Satti, the sitting BJP MLA from Una. “Ab DC aur uska parivar doosari manjil par rehate hain (Now the DC and his family reside on the second floor).”

Over a period of time, the DC residence became the barometer of waterlogging in the town.
Surprisingly, when entire Himachal Pradesh witnessed the worst rain fury this year, Una town and district faced no big problem — even at 197.7 mm rainfall on July 9; 138.4 mm rainfall on July 10; and subsequent spells of heavy rain. The rainwater did not enter the district court complex, the building housing the DC office, the surrounding areas as well as the DC residence.

“Although we have shifted into the new building of mini-secretariat, this time there was no rain problem even in the old building where my office used to be,” says Deputy Commissioner Raghav Sharma.

The solution to the problem of deluge lay in the drainage system of the town, and conscious efforts were made to improve it much before the rainy season set in. There are eight big drains which were crying for attention — and due attention they got in due course of time.

Naresh Dhiman, superintending engineer (SE), irrigation and public health department, under whose supervision the work on the drains was carried out, lets out the secret: the natural course of drainwater was not disturbed. On average, every drain was deepened by two metres and widened by three metres. The bottom and both sides of the drain were made of concrete. “The outflow of water was built into Lalsinghi and Una khadds (rivulets),” says Dhiman. “Only six drains have been completed in a span of a year, work on the remaining two is yet to be done.”

MLA Satti takes delight in the fact that he did not get even a single phone call about waterlogging this time. “Ever since I entered public life, I have been getting a lot of complaints about waterlogging at Una during rain. Someone would complain of water entering his house, someone would point to water accumulating in his shop. The rain fury was unbearable. Yeh pehali barsaat hai jisme aisa koi phone nahin aaya (This is the first rainy season in which I did not get any such phone call).”

He says a total of Rs 22.48 crore has been spent on the drains, whereas the DPR (detailed project report) was for Rs 41 crore. “With the remaining portion of the fund, we will be able to improve the drains completely.”

Satpal Raizada, the former Congress MLA from Una, too, admits the drainage system has improved. “Iss baar dikkat nahin hui (There was no difficulty this time).”

Sanjiv Kumar Phanda, an advocate who practises law at the district courts, says: “Earlier, the water used to enter the courts. This time, we did not face any such problem despite the court complex being situated at a level lower than the road running alongside.”

While SE Dhiman says the waterlogging problem persists in the Friends Colony due to land dispute, DC Sharma throws light on the bright side of the problem: “Recently, I got representations from those who were obstructing the drain work. Now they want the drain to be made. Perhaps they have realised the difference the drains can make.”

The happiest of them all is Sanju who did not get any urgent phone call from the DC residence this rainy season.