Rain, hailstorm damage Tent City; two electrocuted

Varanasi: Hailstorm along with heavy showers on Tuesday late evening, apart from causing loss to farmers also caused damages in the Tent City.
Several city localities were waterlogged due to showers. An elderly woman and a priest were electrocuted after falling on a waterlogged road in Tulsinagar area.
Talking to TOI on Wednesday, the district magistrate S Rajalingam said that teams had already been engaged to assess the loss of crops due to hailstorm and heavy rain on March 29 and again on Tuesday evening and Tent City damages are also being investigated to see whether safety standards are maintained, he said. Postmortem reports of the two persons including a woman, claimed to be electrocuted, are awaited to initiate appropriate action.
The hailstorm and heavy rain started after 8pm on Tuesday. Due to strong winds many tents and other structures including a shade for policemen deployed in Tent City on the sand bed of opposite banks of the Ganga were uprooted. Members of a family staying in a tent and two service staff were also injured.
The Varanasi Development Authority vice-chairman Abhishek Goyal said that no major loss or serious injuries have been reported. Companies operating the Tent City had ensured necessary repairs on Wednesday, he said adding, no adverse feedback had been received from any guest so far.
In Tulsi Nagar area under the limits of Bhelupur police station, one Shambhunath Pandey (45), a priest of Shukulpura Sarainandan, and her neighbour Saroj Singh (65), were electrocuted after their motorcycle fell on a waterlogged road. Locals claimed that duo were electrocuted due to damaged electric cables in the area. On being alerted by the locals the Bhelupur police reached the spot and ensured to stop the power supply. Pandey and Singh were rushed to hospital where doctors declared them dead. Police have sent the bodies for postmortem in night.
Many roads including Maidagin, Mahmoorganj, Piplani Katra, Lahurabir, Nadesar, Maldahiya, Gurubagh and adjoining localities got waterlogged, although water drained out in a few hours after the rain.