12-hour rain takes toll on city roads

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 18

Moderate to heavy showers that lashed the city for nearly 12 hours from Saturday afternoon to the wee hours of Sunday caused immense damage to roads. At some places, roads and streets were seen waterlogged in the afternoon even though rain had stopped early morning.

While several roads had developed deep potholes, the upper layer of others had been washed away. Three car-borne persons had a providential escape when a huge banyan tree fell upon them on the road along Shri Krishna Mandir in Model Town Extension last night.

Eyewitnesses, including a night watchman, said a very old and eroded banyan tree suddenly fell on a moving car. While the car roof was damaged badly, the occupants of the vehicle escaped unhurt. No report of the incident had been lodged with the police. The horticulture wing of the Municipal Corporation had deployed labour to clear the road.

Residents of Ludhiana-Chandigarh Road had to wade through knee-deep water till afternoon as rainwater had not drained due to poor drainage and clogged sewer lines. Similarly, the main Model Town Road (around Mintgumry Chowk) was also under water even 12 hours after the rain had stopped.

Residents of several localities complained that sewer lines and road gullies along main roads and streets were not cleaned by the MC in preparation for the rainy season. Accumulated rainwater and overflowing sewage made their lives miserable. On Gill Road (ward no. 49), residents and shopkeepers had taken upon themselves to clear the thick layer of sand deposited over the road gullies to speed up drainage of rainwater.

While the Weather Department has predicted more rain in Ludhiana and other places in next two or three days, people in the areas that were waterlogged on Saturday were keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Shopkeeper electrocuted

A 70-year-old man was electrocuted while he was putting up the shutter of his shop at Karimpura Bazaar on Saturday evening. The deceased has been identified as Ramesh Behl. Around 7.30 pm, Ramesh decided to close his shop as there was no customer in the market due to the heavy rain. The moment he held the handle of the main shutter, he suffered a shock and fell down. The nearby shopkeepers rang up 101 but the ambulance could not reach the spot due to waterlogging. They rushed Ramesh to the hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead. The body was handed over to the family after post-mortem.