Wake-up call: Nullah waters enter OPD block of IGMC-Shimla
Subhash Rajta
Shimla, August 25
On August 23, water from a nullah entered the ground floor of the new 13-storey OPD block of the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and Hospital. The massive building of the IGMC is built on the nullah. “Due to heavy rain that day the flow of water in the nullah increased considerably and it gushed into the floor below the trauma centre,” said a hospital staff member.
Cancer hospital was also flooded
- The massive building of the IGMC is built on the nullah
- The same day, water also entered the cancer hospital on the premises of the IGMC
- The administrative block and the PG Girls hostel also face danger as a big landslide took place right behind it on last Wednesday
Though no damage was caused, the incident brought to the fore the danger the OPD block would face in the event of rise in water flow in the nullah. “This time it was water. What will happen if there’s a landslide of the kind that struck Summer Hill last week?” asked another IGMC employee.
IGMC Principal Dr Sita Thakur said that the contractor constructing a parking lot in the nullah, right next to the OPD block of the hospital, would be asked to put in place a proper drainage system to ensure such an incident doesn’t recur. “The existing drainage system proved inadequate to drain out the increased flow of water. We will ask him to put in bigger pipes/culverts,” she added.
The same day, water also entered the cancer hospital on the premises of the IGMC. “There was ankle-deep water on the ground floor that houses the OPDs,” said a cancer patient. As per the staff of the cancer hospital, a huge amount of water flowed down from the Sanjauli-IGMC road, right above the cancer hospital. The drainage system on this road is in a shambles with broken drains and choked nullahs and culverts. “The drainage system on this road is indeed problematic. We will see how this can be improved,” said Surender Chauhan, Mayor, Shimla Municipal Corporation.
Besides, the administrative block and the PG Girls hostel also face danger as a big landslide took place right behind it on Wednesday last. The Public Works Department (PWD) has declared the “buildings safe and habitable for the time being”. “As per the report, we are supposed to rush out of the building as soon as it starts raining heavily,” said an IGMC employee in a lighter vein.
