Friday, 05 JULY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Following a few hours of rain on Thursday, more than half of roads in the provisional State capital Dehradun got submerged in water, resulting in traffic jams, accidents and major inconvenience to the public. Main roads in several parts of the city turned into rivers in areas including ISBT Chowk, Sahastradhara Road, Prince Chowk, Dilaram, Dharampur Chowk, Rajpur Road, Haridwar Road, Nalapani Chowk and Tehsil Chowk, among others. The few hours of rain once again exposed the tall claims of the administration which spends crores of rupees every year on cleaning and repairing drains, sewers and roads to ensure the unobstructed flow of the rain water during monsoon. Despite their claims of making advance arrangements in coordination with all the government departments and agencies concerned, internal routes leading from colonies to main roads got waterlogged on Thursday. Most of the routes were heavily waterlogged in areas like Shanti Vihar, Vani Vihar, Dalanwala, Tapovan Chowk, Sahastradhara road, Panditwadi, Karanpur, Mothrowala, Patelnagar and other localities. Many two-wheeler vehicles also skid as the riders were unable to see any potholes or construction material like bricks and iron rods. On a busy submerged road amid heavy rainfall, one can potentially suffer a fatal accident, especially at night, if nobody observes them and helps them from getting out of the water. The disaster control room set up in the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) was also busy throughout the day due to waterlogging related complaints on Thursday. The control room had received over 20 complaints till 6 PM, as per one of the personnel deployed in the control room. He also informed that there is only one team of six members who had been going to each site as per the complaints. The workers in the team work in three shifts every day. However, it poses a challenge for them when the control room receives several complaints at once, he said. Meanwhile, 10 people belonging to different cities also got stuck in Gucchupani in the evening after the water level suddenly rose there due to rain. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) safely rescued them with the help of ropes. The authorities also appealed to the people to not go near water bodies like rivers, ghats and canals among others as the sudden increase in water level during monsoon can instantly claim lives in a short period of time.
