Amidst the joy of monsoon's entry in the capital, a new spot of waterlogging has raised the concern of Bhopal residents. This spot is being formed on the main road outside Bansal One built in the Rani Kamlapati Railway Station premises. Waterlogging occurred here in the first heavy rain of the season.
The reason was that no space for water drainage has been left in the pre-cast divider on both sides of the road going from Board Office Square to RKMP.
The rain that happened five days ago filled up so much water here that the traffic had to pass at a slow speed. If the construction agencies do not find a solution to this problem, then movement on this road may be affected in case of heavy and prolonged rain. This is because the traffic coming out of RKMP station and the traffic going towards Veer Savarkar Setu meet here.
Recently, PWD Minister Rakesh Singh said that the construction of GG flyover was delayed due to lack of coordination among the construction agencies. The same impaired coordination is seen in other projects of Bhopal as well. There are two such spots in the new and old city, which cause trouble to people every rainy season. These include Jyoti Talkies Road in the new city and the road in front of the Administration Academy. The same situation prevails in Kamala Park Road and Bhopal Talkies Chauraha Road in the old city.
To solve the problem of water accumulation here, 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 there is heavy rain, the water fills up to the knees and the road gets completely closed.
The road coming from Board Office Chauraha towards Jyoti Talkies Chauraha remains flooded every rainy season. To solve this, the Smart City Company also did channelization of the drain along with other works under Smart Street. About Rs 7 crore were spent on this entire work. Still the result is that one has to pass through knee-deep water here.
Due to the lack of a proper drainage system, water accumulates here every year. A few years ago, the Chief Minister's convoy also stopped here due to waterlogging. There is a need to widen the drain here. The corporation then also made an estimate of one and a half crores. MLA Arif Masood gave 30 lakh rupees from his fund. The work that was done with this 30 lakh was just done and left.
Waterlogging has now become a tradition here 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 there was no benefit.
Gaurav Vaidya, Associate Dean, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, SPA Bhopal said flood like situations are witnessed in Bhopal without there being any floods. It can also be called urban flood. There is a need to design projects on the lines of natural drainage systems. A similar system was designed by Raja Bhoj in his city hundreds of years ago.
