In Steel City, choked drains lead to misery

JAMSHEDPUR: In the last 24 hours, incessant rains lashed parts of Kolhan and inundated low lying areas in the Steel City and affected normal life. While water-logged streets caused huge traffic jams, choked drains added to the woes of people in the residential areas.
In the industrial town of Jamshedpur, residential colonies in Sonari, Kadma, Jugsalai, Birsanagar, Bagbera, Bagunnagar and others, suffered inundation as drain water gushed into the colonies.In Adarshnagar phase 3 in Sonari, residents living in the flats were literally confined at home for long hours on Sunday as flood waters entered the parking lot and went up to almost the first floor.
"Not just the parking area, the water submerged the buildings up to the first floors," said Manoj Kumar who works at Adarshnagar society. Though rains are to be blamed, residents of Ramjanamnagar in Kadma pointed fingers towards choked drains in the locality for the high levels of flood waters. "Due to lack of proper drainage system in the area, water gushed into our houses in midnight," said Shailesh Tiwary, a resident of Ramjanamnagar.
Choked drains have been a problem for quite some time and residents said, their complaints fell on deaf ears. "The muck and garbage lifted from the drains and not removed from the roadsides. Thus, whenever it rains, the dirt finds it way back to the drains and chokes them again," said a resident of Taiyabnagar in Azadnagar, Mango.
When approached for a comment, Mango Notified Area Committee's (MNAC) special officer Deepak Sahay said, "Lack of proper drainage is a problem in some areas, but we are building a new drainage system in the municipal area that would prevent overflowing and, hopefully, by next monsoon, things will be in place." The overnight rain and waterlogged streets did not spare even MGM hospital, where the first floor of almost all the wards were under water. Interestingly, this is the sixth time in the last 18 months, when the health care centre was submerged in water.