Even after spending massive amount of funds on the sewage system in Bhopal every year, it gets flooded with water as soon as there is heavy rain and same happened during the heavy rain on Thursday.
The entire capital got drenched in one hour of heavy rain. There was so much water on the roads that one could not even walk. There were traffic jams for hours.
Before the rain, Mayor Malti Rai, Commissioner Harendra Narayan and other responsible officials had claimed that this time there will be no waterlogging anywhere in Bhopal. All the drains will be cleaned beforehand, but the first heavy rain of the season exposed these claims.
Water filled around the railway underbridge in the Aishbagh area. This caused problems for people to pass through.
Near Jyoti Talkies the road coming from Board Office Square towards Jyoti Talkies Square remains flooded every rainy season. To solve this, the Smart City Company also channelized the drain along with other works under Smart Street. About Rs 7 crore was spent on this entire work. Still, the result is that one has to pass through knee-deep water here.
At Bhopal talkies waterlogging has now become a tradition here too in every rain. The drain passing through here is narrow, so it overflows when rainwater arrives. Here the culvert belongs to PWD and the drain belongs to Municipal Corporation. The lack of coordination between the two agencies has become a big problem for the people. In 2019, the corporation increased the height of the drain by spending 4 crores, but it was of no use. On Thursday, knee-deep water was filled on Safia College Road. Shop goods like iron cupboards, bed boxes were washed away in the water.
In Alpana Talkies trisection every year rainwater fills up at this intersection located on Hamidia Road and thousands of people face difficulties. A week ago also, there was a jam for 2 hours due to waterlogging. The next day, Mayor Rai inspected and said that a permanent solution to the problem will be found. The problem was not solved, but on Thursday, waterlogging occurred again and vehicles crawled for 2 hours.
The road from Roshanpura to Polytechnic Square looked like a pond. After the rain stopped, the water receded in 3 hours. Only then could the traffic become organized.
To solve the problem of water accumulation at Noronha Administrative Academy, the outlet of Shahpura pond has to be lowered by about two feet. A year ago, the Municipal Corporation also built a drainage system here by spending lakhs of rupees, but it was not successful. The situation is such that if it rains heavily, the water fills up to the knees and the road gets completely closed.
Waterlogging situation arose in Harshvardhan Nagar, Bhopal. Due to this, even houses were filled with water.
Waterlogging in many houses in Tulsinagar. This situation arose due to overflowing of drains.
In Sant Hirdaram Nagar, the area behind Shikhar Hotel near Sehore Naka was flooded with one to two feet of water.
Waterlogging in many houses of Ward No. 39 Aishbagh Housing Board Colony was flooded and roads were submerged. Waterlogging situation arose in front of Shani Mandir located in New Market. Due to this, pedestrians also faced problems in passing.
People were also facing problems due to waterlogging in the Bairagarh area. Projects worth Rs 600 crore in two decades
If we include Bhoj Wetland, JNNURM, Project Uday and Project Amrit, then about Rs 600 crore has been spent on sewerage and drainage in the city in two decades. On the other hand, Rs 1.5 to 2 crore is spent every year in the name of maintenance. This time also the same amount is expected to be spent, but it seems as if this amount has gone down the drain. Due to lack of a better plan for water drainage, waterlogging is taking place.
After the flood in 2016, the corporation had conducted a survey. It was revealed that 10840 encroachments were made on the drains.
