Showers expose loopholes in Jaipur municipal corporation’s monsoon preparedness

JAIPUR: All the tall claims of the Jaipur municipal corporation (JMC) on monsoon preparedness fell flat on Tuesday morning with just a few hours of rain resulting in flooding and sinking of city roads.
JMC received many complaints of waterlogging and roads sinking in, from all over the city. At Chandi ki Taksaal, the roads were completely clogged with water and commuters going to offices were facing difficulty in crossing the road on two-wheelers.
Manoj Jangid, a resident of the area said he had to go back to his house to change clothes, as his pants got dirty due to the dirty water on the road while he was riding his two-wheeler. “Two-wheeler riders were facing difficulty while travelling as the roads were waterlogged and cars were moving fast. I saw one person on a bike without his shirt, to prevent it from getting stained from the dirty water. The situation is even more difficult for pedestrians,” said Manoj. People around secretariat near deer park area were faced with traffic snarls, where unmetalled roads due to the laying of pipeline, jammed the traffic for half an hour. Most of the big nullahs were over flowing on roads causing traffic jams at various places in the city. Ishwar Chand Sharma, an auto driver said that at Sudershanpura near Bais Godam puliya, there was traffic jam for about half an hour and mud-filled roads with water were making commute difficult. “I have never seen the situation of Jaipur change. We have to drive carefully as due to water, pits are not visible that may cause accidents. Two-wheeler drivers have to be more careful,” said Ishwar.
There are around 867 small drains and 20 nullahs in the city. As per the JMC officials, cleaning of almost all the drains is completed but they are still waiting to tender the 20 big nullahs. However, residents of Nari ka Nakah said that no one has visited their areas for cleaning. Babuddin said, “Drains are all clogged and they are overflowing. Yesterday, we paid a contractor from our own pocket to clean the drains as the monsoon will be coming soon and these drains will be choked, emitting foul smell.”
District collector Jagroop Yadav accepted the fact and said that since morning, they had received around four complaints of water-logging from various areas of the city. “We immediately sent mud pumps in those areas to pump out water. We are fully prepared for the monsoon. There are no casualties reported as of now. There are three flood-control rooms in Jaipur that are well-equipped with any emergency vehicles like trucks or tractors,” said Yadav.
There are three flood-control rooms in the city functioning from the fire station of Mansarovar, Ghat Gate and Bunny Park. Abha Beniwal, deputy commissioner fire, while talking to TOI explained the JMC’s preparation for the monsoon. “Around 30 members are working in the flood-control rooms. We have ordered sand bags that will be used in case of soil erosion to fill up the place or roads. We have issued orders to all the community halls not to take any bookings in this season as they can be used in emergency for shifting people from slums. We have also ordered tents and mattresses for emergency. Our preparedness is complete for the monsoon,” claimed Beniwal.