First showers bring along troubles for low-lying areas

The pre-monsoon showers have brought smile to city denizens but at the same time have brought lines of worry on the faces of the people residing in the low-lying areas of Ranchi.Water is gushing through the doors and in few places through sewage system has created very pathetic living conditions of the people living in the low lying areas of  the city. Very often the situation becomes turbulent to survive. People become helpless as they are not able to flush out water nor can they move out from their houses.

“In monsoon water logging is common problem in this area. Water surges through the doors and the situation becomes such that we need to replace things on the floor to a higher platform, cot or shelves. The worse part being that the sewer water enters the home making situation difficult for the survival. However, we keep containers to store drinking water,” said Tara Devi a resident of lohra Kocha.

The rain water logging has also created problem regarding the storage of eatables among the people residing in the low lying areas. “It is due to rain water logging that we lost kilos of rice, flour and pulses last year. Moreover the water gets accompanied with rubbish and the sewer water and leaves no option for reuse of the food grains,” said Meena Devi, a shopkeeper of the locality.

Geologist Nitish Priyadarshi said “Earlier the undulating topography of the city supported for the smooth movement of rain water but as a result of urbanization that geographical set up of city has become such that water logging has become a common problem.”However when the Deputy CEO of RMC was consulted he said, “We are cleaning the drains for the past one month so that during heavy downpours water flushes out easily.”

“The water logging leads to several water borne diseases. Diseases such as cholera, Jaundice, typhoid, dysentery and intestinal disturbances are more common in areas where water logging is an issue,” said civil surgeon, Dr Gopal Srivastava.Elsewhere in city water inundation is reported in lower chutia, Kishoreganj,  Daily market, Hatia and Islam Nagar.