About 3,000 residents of Preet Colony on Zirakpur-Ambala Highway here are living under the threat of an epidemic outbreak with the locality’s sewerage system lying choked for almost a month.

Hundreds of residents of Dhakola and Dhakoli villages in Zirakpur had recently taken ill from water-borne diseases.

Housing 700 families, the colony’s sewerage disposal system was lying blocked leading to the overflowing of dirt.

As a result, the houses and the streets in the colony have started stinking and are becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies.

Residents alleged that repeated requests to the local civic body have not yet yielded any response. “Our houses and vicinity have become drains and stink,” rues Arjun Singh, a resident.

With no solution in sight, some residents of the colony have even shifted to their relatives' places to avoid falling prey to the epidemic.

Zirakpur Municipal Council Executive Officer Vijay Kumar said the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board has been informed, and it would do the needful.