Karnal inundated after first heavy rainfall

Parveen Arora

Karnal, July 15

The first heavy rainfall of the monsoon season this morning exposed the poor arrangements of the Municipal Corporation of Karnal to deal with waterlogging as several areas of the city were inundated. The commuters, especially schoolgoing children and businessmen, had to face difficulty while passing through flooded roads. However, after a couple of hours, the situation turned normal.

The residents have claimed that the arrangements made by the MC were inadequate. Roads in Sectors 6, 13 and 14 and other areas of the city were flooded with water, with the residents saying that the authorities should have taken adequate measures to deal with the situation. “I had no option but to let my children skip their school as the entire road was waterlogged. I could not use my scooter to take them to the school,” said Amit, a local.

The residents claim that the drains and nullahs were desilted, but the silt was not lifted. Consequently, the silt washed back into the drains during the rain, leading to severe blockages and subsequent waterlogging.

Megha Bhandari, former Councillor of Ward 8, said there was no doubt that the MC had cleaned the drains and nullahs. However, since the silt was not lifted timely, the residents had to face difficulties while commuting. Bhandari, however, appreciated the MC Commissioner for deploying additional manpower to ensure a smooth flow of water that provided relief to them. “We are hopeful that we will not have to face this problem in the next rainfall,” she said.

Vir Vikram, former Councillor of Ward 10, expressed his frustration, pointing to an official’s negligence being the root cause behind the problem. “I have repeatedly highlighted that the chambers and drainage pipelines should be cleaned in a timely manner. Despite a tender being floated and an agency being finalised, no work order has been issued by an official. As a result, the roads in Sector 13 were waterlogged,” said Vikram.

Commissioner Abhishek Meena said, “We were surprised that the roads were waterlogged. Nearly 70 personnel were deployed to manage the situation, which was brought under control after a couple of hours.” He said adequate measures were being taken to prevent such a situation in the future.