NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The Public Works Department (PWD) has blamed the ‘unplanned and unclean drainage system’ for the massive waterlogging Panaji witnessed after heavy pre-monsoon rain on Wednesday.
The PWD engineers have claimed that the narrow width of the drains is the main reason for waterlogging in the city. They also attributed the waterlogging to unclean drains.
“City storm-water drainage system has not been designed for heavy rains and the roads get waterlogged whenever the capital city witnesses heavy showers,” a senior PWD engineer said.
A PWD official said, “When drains are not regularly cleared, they bring in all the muck with them. Instead of admitting that they don’t carry out the pre-monsoon de-silting of drains, the corporation conveniently places the blame on the PWD.” He said, “When there is high intensity rain, all the water will not immediately drain out. Storm-water drains are not designed like that. For example, when there is 40 mm rain on a particular day, some of the water will remain on the road. It will take time to drain out. It cannot be expected to go away immediately.”
According to government officials, the clearance time for waterlogging varies from 15 minutes to an hour.
In the capital city, not much has been done to check flooding and waterlogging and this is when the monsoon rain is likely to hit anytime. Most of the drains across the city remain choked, though civic agencies claim they are carrying out de-silting to the best of their capacity.
According to the PWD, with an increase in construction activities, the construction debris and pumping off water filled with mud near various drains across the city are also the reasons for blocking of the drainage system.
There are at least six areas in the city which are notorious for flooding. Also, at many places, the local network of drains is not connected to the main ones.
A PWD engineer, on the condition of anonymity, said that “the main reason behind waterlogging is the ineffective de-silting of drains.” “There are 8-10 pockets in the city which are badly hit during rains. We have seen the corporation doing a superficial cleaning of the drains. At times, the CCP does not lift the collected waste from the drains, thus blocking the flow of water into them. The civic agency does not make efforts to upgrade the drainage system,” he said.