On Tuesday (2nd April), Devendra Rathore, a BJP councillor in Gwalior‘s Birla Nagar Gadaipura area in ward number 15, took matters into his own hands when his complaints about a jammed sewer chamber went unheard. Venturing into the chamber himself, he undertook the cleaning task. A large crowd gathered and recorded the event, which soon went viral on social media. Upon receiving word of the councillor’s actions, the commissioner promptly dispatched cleaning staff to the site, and the sewer chamber was cleaned.
In the Gadaipura area within Ward 15 of the city, the persistent jamming of a sewer chamber for the past 20 days has meant dirty water spilling onto the roads, causing distress among residents. Despite repeated complaints from locals and their councillor, Devendra Rathore, regarding this issue, no action was taken. Rathore escalated the matter by lodging multiple complaints to the nodal officer Lallan Sengar, as well as to the individuals in charge, Ramsevak Shakya and the contractor. However, these attempts were met with evasion, and no resolution was reached.
The councillor mentioned having lodged complaints with both the mayor and commissioner. However, with no response forthcoming, he took matters into his own hands, descending into the chamber himself on Tuesday, April 2, to clear the choked sewer. Upon the dissemination of the video showing the councillor undertaking the cleaning task, the commissioner sent the corporation staff to Gadaipura to clean the chamber.
On Tuesday (2nd April), Devendra Rathore, a BJP councillor in Gwalior’s Birla Nagar Gadaipura area in ward number 15, took matters into his own hands when his complaints about a jammed sewer chamber went unheard. Venturing into the chamber himself, he undertook the cleaning task. A large crowd gathered and recorded the event, which soon went viral on social media. Upon receiving word of the councillor’s actions, the commissioner promptly dispatched cleaning staff to the site, and the sewer chamber was cleaned.Devendra Rathore said, “There was a big sewer problem in ward number 15 and dirty water was flooding inside the houses of residents. People were living with foul smell and the matter was also brought before the council but no one paid attention to it. After this, I told the Commissioner, also requested the Mayor and raised the matter in the Council but the issue was not addressed. After that, I realised I would have to solve this matter myself.”
He added, “People have given me the vote and I must value their vote, therefore, I cleaned the sewer as no one was listening and people were facing issues. After I did the cleaning, the Municipal Corporation employees also came and started cleaning.”
Councillor Rathore also crticised Mayor Sobha Sikarwar, saying that under the leadership of the Congress and with a Congress Mayor in office, the municipal corporation remained silent on the issue. He said, “The municipality here is under Congress. We have the government in the state but here we are working under the Congress mayor Sobha Sikarwar but she remains silent.”
Meanwhile, the Additional Commissioner of Gwalior Municipal Corporation, Munish Singh Sikarwar, said, “Wherever sewer-related problems arise, they are being resolved immediately. In that ward too, work was being done by the Municipal Corporation next to the sewer. If such information was received, it would also have been resolved.”
Notably, last year two workers lost their lives due to inhalation of poisonous gases while cleaning a sewer chamber in the same vicinity. Moreover, there are stringent directives from the Supreme Court explicitly prohibiting individuals from entering sewer chambers for cleaning purposes.
