GUWAHATI, June 17 � Two hours and ten minutes, approximately this was the time taken by a smart shower to push normal life off the track for hours together in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam as well as the hub of NE region, this morning. The most affected were the school going children and the office goers. Many people who were out to take the morning flights were also disappointed by the chaos created by the shower on the city roads.
School children were stranded for nearly two hours due the chaos that resulted from the inundation of the major roads like the GNB/MRD Road and the RG Baruah Road in particular.
Several city localities, like Gandhi Basti, and the perennially vulnerable low-lying areas of Nabin Nagar, Tarun Nagar etc also face the brunt of the water logging problem caused by the downpour. However, according to residents of Nabin Nagar etc areas, the severity of the problem today was less compared to the past days.
The seriousness of the problem can be gauged from the version of Pritilata Patgiri, a teacher of Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya. The occupants of the full-capacity school bus (No �9) she was traveling had to wait till around 10 am from around 8-20 am, to be rescued by another bus from the school. The occupants of the bus reached the school about 1 hour 30 minutes behind the schedule, said Patigiri.
Narrating the situation, she said that water from the Chandmari side was approaching them, while waiting at the Nizarapar Classic Point, in waves. People traveling by rickshaws were perturbed by the waves of the storm water, as they were in very precarious situation.
The submergence of the road by the storm water resulted in a serious traffic snarl and this required over one hour�s time to disappear, said the teacher.
According to Dilip Dutta Choudhury, a resident of Gandhibasti area, storm water submerged the GNB Road within minutes since the downpour started. The Pub Sarania Road was also submerged. Besides, by lanes 2,3,4 and 5 of the Gandhi Basti area were also inundated by the storm water and all these by lanes remained under knee-deep water till 12-30 pm.
He also complained that these Gandhi Basti by lanes are under water since the beginning of the pre-monsoon season in March this year. A serious drainage congestion caused by the filling up of the Gandhi Basti Beel by a builder with connections in the high-ups is at the root of this sordid state of affairs in the Gandhi Basti localities, he rued.
When contacted, Water Resources Department (WRD) sources said that the submergence of the roads was the outcome of the clogging of the feeder drains at various road crossings. For the improvement of the situation in the Anil Nagar, Tarun Nagar and Lachit Nagar areas, the capacity of the four existing pumps at Anil Nagar and Lachit Nagar are to be enhanced so that more water could be pumped out form these areas to the Bharalu.
There is also the need of two more pumps to be installed at Tarun Nagar, said the WRD sources.
PWD sources said that the PWD is mainly engaged in laying and maintenance of the roadside drains, is facing problems due to the mess created by various agencies by turning these drains into sewage disposal network and country drains.