Morning rain leaves puddles on roads

CHANDIGARH: The early morning showers in the city left a number of roadsides, residential lanes, parks and marketplaces with puddles of stagnant water.

A street in the residential block in Sector 53 was seen to be partially submerged in water due to the compromised gutter, leading towards a rather slow movement of water. The residents living on the street complained about receiving no response from the MC after informing them about the clogged sewerline about a week ago. "The sewerline has been clogged since a week and the excess sewage has been accumulating on the street every other day.The unexpected, torrential rains from the morning made matters worse and the water is now passing really slowly," said Vikas Mishra, a resident.

Similarly, various streets in Sector 22 were seen to be covered in large water puddles, thus resulting in vehicular imbalance and sludge formation. Numerous pedestrians were seen facing difficulty while crossing the road outside Aroma, next to the fuel station, due to a large, stagnant puddle of water.

The scene was similar on the Sector 22 main road along Kiran Theatre. The road was being partially washed by rainwater as the cars made their way through the portions stagnating on roadsides, throwing mud-water on the two-wheelers and pedestrians.

At some places, stagnant water was seen outside of the entrance of various houses in Sector 22 and Sector 19. Due to insufficient number of manholes around, the passing through of stagnant water with ease has become a problem. "Many times, the water stays on for days before it is cleared after a spell of a heavy rain. The squelching doesn't stop outside of the house. The slope of the roads are towards it's edges, which is why the water rolls down to the corners," said Babita Sharma, a Sector 19 resident.

The arterial road in Kishangarh, which is suffering with crucial drainage problems was also partially waterlogged after the morning rains, leaving the shopkeepers and the commuters worried.

Rishi Sharma, a resident of Chandigarh, said it is clearly noticeable that it becomes very hard for the people to travel from one place to another in monsoon when the water gets collected, there are areas such as the underpass near GCG in Sector 11, whose conditions are pathetic and have not improved in past four to five years even after numerous complaints.

Residents complained that after water gets stuck in an area and leads to many health hazards such as dengue and malaria.

One of the resident of Sector 51, Sanyam Bajaj, said he was diagnosed with dengue after the area near his house was waterlogged.

Another resident Raghav Upmanyu said, "Once the monsoon begins, one of the biggest problem is the traffic jams at various regions after the water gets stuck, it consumes a lot of time. Our daily routine gets badly affected because of it."