M'lore: Untimely Rain Clogs Drains, Blocks Roads – Water Enters Shops and Houses
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje and Sphoorty Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network- Mangalore (RS/SP)
Mangalore, Nov 11: Torrential rains that soaked the city and other places, brought with it, worries for the people living in several parts of the city, over the problems they would have to face, if the rainfall continues for several hours and thus giving rise to artificial floods, particularly in congested, low-lying areas, as well as the areas where road concreting work is in progress.
Several shops and apartments located in Falnir, Kadri and Car Street areas reported on Wednesday November 11, that storm water had flooded their premises. Many shop keepers and residents were busy emptying the water and the filth that flowed in, from their houses and compounds for several hours.
Some of the people residing near Kadri blocked the road, which is in a pathetic condition, for a while, to register their protest against the City Corporation’s apathy in repairing the road, and to demand repairs to the road immediately. Rain water got stagnated at this damaged stretch of the road, creating grave problems for the traffic that was blocked for several hours.
It is evident that improper maintenance of storm drains and the failure of the Corporation to provide proper storm drains, has been the root cause for the rain water entering the houses and shops located by the roadside. “Lack of planning and careless execution of the ongoing road concreting work on the part of the City Corporation, have heaped miseries on us,” the citizens complained.
“The mayors and the engineers of the City Corporation often blame the woes of the city on it being unplanned, and try to shirk responsibility under this guise. They are therefore, expected to properly plan every work and execute the same by keeping in mind future growth of the city. But even when executing a new projects or roads, they fail to properly plan, which has been the root cause for multifarious problems like the clogged drains and storm water entering the buildings, from which the people suffer from,” complained Raghuveer, a resident of Car Street in the city.
“The MCC appears to spend money on paper. This is apparent by the condition in which the roads in the city are in, and the storm drains that are choked to the brim by filth, debris and waste materials, blocking the flow of the rain water,” said Hanumanth Kamath, president of Nagarika Hitharakshana Vedike.
The city, where several road widening and concreting works are in progress, is already facing traffic bottlenecks at several junctions, and the sudden rain has complicated this problem further. The rain water that got accumulated in the low-lying stretches of the partly repaired or concreted roads created lot of problems for the people and vehicles, particularly the two-wheelers.
Three Fishermen Missing with Boat
Three fishermen, who went fishing on a boat from Ullal sea shore, are reported missing from Sunday November 8. Ullal Police have registered a case on Wednesday November 11 based on a complaint by boat owner Ashraf.
The missing fishermen are identified as Selvam, Tangam and Jagat, all three originally from Tamil Nadu and engaged in fishing at Ullal from several years. The fishermen set out on fishing Saturday November 7 and were to return on Sunday. However, except for a call on Sunday from one of the fishermen Selvam, who informed of the impending danger they faced on sea, thereafter there has been no signal or news from the fishermen. Soon after the call, the boat owner too had sent another boat in search of the troubled, but neither the boat nor the fishermen were traced.
After the loss of contact, the owner informed the police and coastguard about the incident of missing fishermen and also feared that the boat might have sunk. Police said that the coastal police have been informed about the incident.