The Combermere naala
Inayat Singh Kakar
The Combermere naala is one of the five natural streams that flow down central part of Shimla city. These streams are natural drainage channels that carry excess water down the mountainsides.
The Combermere naala originates mid-way on the Jakhu hill, making its way down the hillside to form the Eastern boundary of our field site, Krishna Nagar and ends at Lal Pani where taxi drivers use the water to wash their vehicles.
Old pictures of Shimla city show the naala flowing down pristine hillsides. Now when you hear the gushing of the water, you see a channel choked with garbage. The water tumbles over the garbage, desperately makes its way down, slowly changing its path as it cuts through the hillside. As the naala reaches Krishnanagar it becomes even more choked with garbage. Krishnanagar’s residents whose houses are constructed along the naala describe it as a health and safety hazard.
In the summer, the wet garbage cooks in the harsh sun and becomes a swampy breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes. In the rains, the water thunders down the hillside, gushing so loud that it keeps nearby residents awake from the anxiety of flooding.
Ramu, whose house is built right next to the naala says that he is afraid it will one day sweep his house down with it. He says that infrastructure built by the Municipality has created choke points in the path of the naala, instead of towards the end of its course at Lal Pani (near where the 2023 landslide took place) where it could be cleaned regularly. Right now, the choke points which are inaccessible to human beings.
The naala is built in a way that it gets obstructed, and damages the hillside where Krishnanagar is located, increasing risk of landslides. With a sigh, Ramu says that the story of the naala is emblematic of a cruel irony faced by the residents of Krishnanagar, home to the majority of city’s sanitation workforce.