STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Residents of the city woke up to a rude shock on Friday morning as several parts of the city were inundated after the incessant rains in the past few days. Several localities of the city were completely or partially cut off as the water levels varied between a few centimetres and a metre in some localities of the city.
Ulubari, Rajgarh, RG Baruah Road, Zoo Road, Hatigaon, Borbari, Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar, Gandhi Basti, and Rukminigaon localities were among the worst affected, and some of them were completely out of reach for both two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
A major weather disturbance led to very high precipitation in the city in the last few days, which ultimately led to massive water logging in several localities. Apart from streets being flooded with dirty water, the same also entered several homes and business establishments, leading to heavy losses for the victims.
Even though the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and state administration have mentioned several times that action has been taken to prevent urban flooding, including the procurement of costly equipment and the eviction of people, these rains proved that those statements carried no weight. They had mentioned that crores of rupees had been used to buy equipment, hire experts, and create infrastructure to relieve people from the same, but 2-3 days of rain proved them completely useless. Rubber boats had to be deployed for rescue and relief measures as some localities were out of bounds for vehicles.
Apart from the dirty water from the overflowed drains, large quantities of sludge and plastic waste also made their way to the streets along with the water and created a very unhygienic condition. Although GMC deployed several pumps to get rid of the water from the flooded localities, there is no concrete step being taken to dispose of the waste, which now lies around on the roads, raising concerns about diseases among the people.
A person from the Anil Nagar locality said, "The so-called steps taken by the authorities towards resolving the flooding problem in the city are nothing but gimmicks. Time and again, we have seen these projects fail miserably, even after a single heavy shower. We do not understand why they wasted so much money collected from the taxes and yielded no results at all."
Another local person from the Gandhi Basti locality said, "Because of the inability of the GMC and the concerned ministers and officials, residents continue to suffer miserably. How long does it take them to construct the drains in our locality, and how can these drains overflow so easily? We miss our offices, and our children miss their school because of their inaction."
Major parts of Zoo Road were completely unusable by cars and bikes during the first half of the day because of massive flooding. " A resident of the AIDC locality said," This massive flooding is due to the uncalculated construction of the flyover. They have not taken any action to clear the important drains, which now remain filled with the garbage generated during the construction of the flyover."
Meanwhile, the district administration has issued a helpline number for people facing problems related to water logging.
Also Watch: