Bhubaneshwar: Season’s 1st heavy rain floods smart city

BHUBANESWAR: The season’s first spell of heavy showers here in the capital on Wednesday exposed the tall rain-readiness claims of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). All major roads of the city witnessed waterlogging after the rain lashed between 1 pm and 2 pm.
Although the BMC had claimed of having desilted drains, nullahs and storm water drainage channels before the onset of monsoon, the capital’s inundated roads reflected the poor preparedness of the civic authorities. Most of the low-lying areas like Acharya Vihar, Bomikhal, Rasulgarh, Old Town, Bhimatangi, Behera Sahi and Nayapalli were inundated with knee-deep water as the city recorded 8.0mm rainfall.
New BMC commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange, along with his team, on Wednesday morning visited Nayapalli, Jharpada and Satyanagar areas to assess the condition of drains.
“We are in constant touch with people and have kept all pumping stations ready to drain water immediately after a spell of heavy rain. We are working jointly with PWD at several places. We have also started cleaning up the Gangua Nala,” said Kulange.
“Although the civic body has done a better job than last year, there are still some lapses. The city is not fully prepared to handle this year’s monsoon. From the first day’s experience, it can be easily imagined how bad the situation could be in the coming days,” said Prasant Kumar Sahu, a Saheed Nagar resident.
“The intensity of the rain was so high that it was impossible to drive. So we took shelter at a bus stop on Janpath at Saheed Nager. We had to drive through flooded roads as we resumed our journey after the rain dissipated,” said Manaswini Swain, a college student.