Tags:
Journalism of Courage
CHANDIGARH, Sept 14: The torrential rain that lashed the city and its surrounding areas yesterday once again exposed the lacunae in the existing infrastructural provisions to tackle flood-like situation in the city. Not just the drainage, even other aspects of city life 8212; from traffic management to vehicle back-up systems were found wanting. With the city not prepared for any such eventuality, the officialdom and people have been forced to think about facing such events in the future.
Though there was no fatality yesterday, chances of electrocution, in case of a live wire getting in touch with inundated water, cannot be ruled out. Electricity Department officials are, however, unaware of such a possibility. quot;Since there has never been a case like this in the past, we are not prepared for it,quot; said an official. 8230;. One wonders if they are waiting for such a mishap to occur. The Electricity Department officials, however, claim that in case of unfavorable or extreme weather conditions, the department normally puts off the power supply.
The design of the underground drainage system is such that it caters to only half-an-inch intensity of rainfall, whereas the downpour yesterday was more than two inches. Officials claim that the MC is making efforts to further improve the drainage system by laying two more underground storm-water trunk drains.
Water standing in plenty on the roads, can lead to other problems too like the snapping of telecom network. But, Principal General Manager, Telecom, Prithipal Singh, says the new technology is well-equipped to handle such flood-like situations. quot;With no paper-core cable required now, the downpour cannot have much effect on the existing optical fibre cable, unless the cable is damaged first,quot; says Singh.
But, the standing waters caused traffic-related problems too and called for adequate policing to regulate traffic during such situations.
Even as traffic police officials claim that they put in their best efforts to facilitate smooth flow of traffic in the time of rains, traffic was snarled at several places. Some bus drivers, who tried to drive over the road dividers to jump the stranded traffic and got stuck in the process, made things worse.
Chaos was clearly visible near the roundabout of Sectors 16, 17, 22 and 23 around 5.20 p.m. yesterday with scores of vehicles moving bumper-to-bumper. Said Parminder Singh, one of the motorists, who was stuck there: quot;Apparently, traffic police failed to rise to the occasion. They could have easily diverted us to other roads.quot;
Another resident, Vinod Kumar, said: quot;The traffic cops just disappear when it is raining.quot; He pointed out that traffic constables were present on the lights near the Municipal Corporation building but there was nobody to regulate traffic at the roundabout.
Superintendent Traffic of Police Balbir Singh said the traffic police have no additional responsibility in times of rain. quot;Yet we have instructed them to help the motorists in whatever capacity they can. Our officers are there with cranes to pull out the stranded vehicles free of cost.quot;
He added it was not possible to regulate traffic at that moment as the chaos occurred throughout the city.
UT Inspector General of Police S.K. Singh said there is not much awareness among the residents. quot;They can call the police control room for any obstruction due to waterlogging, electrocution or stranding of vehicles. We either rush our personnel to the spot or get in touch with the concerned department.quot;
But, what do you do when your car breaks down following a heavy downpour in the city?
Most car dealers claim to have a back-up system to deal with any breakdown during rain or otherwise. The person is required to make a call or leave a pager message indicating the place where one is stranded. quot;But in yesterday8217;s rain, no one called for help,quot; said a dealer.
However, during the real crisis, motorists say it is the roadside mechanics who come to the rescue of people. In the process, of course, they make a neat sum. The mechanics usually do a quick job for Rs 50 or so 8212; in case of the old cars. Motorists say that most new models of cars are able to wade through ankle-deep water. Two-wheeler owners, too, have a tough time during heavy rain and it is a common sight to see people dragging their vehicles at the roundabouts. During rains, the rickshaws might be out of business but the rickshaw pullers and even street urchins make money by pushing stranded vehicles.
