VADODARA, July 7: Taking up the city residents' cause, opposition councillors of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Tuesday grilled the administration over its alleged failure to clean the storm water drains before the onset of monsoon.Led by Kanchanbhai Parmar, Chandrakant Shrivastava and former councillor I D Patel, the delegation told Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria that the administration's failure to clean the drains had led to water-logging, especially on the outskirts of the city.The councillors also claimed there was knee-deep water in Manjalpur, Pratapnagar, Tarsali, Makarpura and parts of Waghodia Road and Ajwa Road.Aloria is reported to have instructed civic officers to clear water-logging at the earliest.WALLS RAZED: THE encroachment removal squad of the VMC on Tuesday razed walls built by Gayatrinagar, Vasant Vihar, Ambikadham, Samarpan and Nandanvan societies. The walls were obstructing the water flow in the storm water drains.The squad also removed 25 unauthorised handcarts parked near the Muktanand Crossing in Karelibaug. More than 70 patharas and kachha sheds were also removed. Handcart owners holding licenses have been shifted in the hawking zone.INAUGURATION: MAYOR Ratilal Desai will inaugurate a two storey, five-room atithi gru in Sharadnagar, Tarsali on Friday. Spread over 16,000 sq ft area, the building's construction area is 6,000 sq ft. The gruh, built in nearly one-and-a-half year, has been constucted at a cost of Rs 18 lakh. Earlier, a portion of the half-finished building was used to carryani-social activities. Civic sources said twice the construction work was delayed due to a dispute with the contractors.VMC FLAYED: PRESIDENT of the City Women's Congress Committee Minaxi Fand has criticised the VMC for failing to install enough mercury lights on the road between Shreyas High School and Tulsidham Society. In a memorandum submitted to the municipal commissioner, she also highlighted water-logging near Rajendra, Sheetal Kunj and nearby societies. She also drew the civic chief's attention to several roads of the area, including Chandravali Road and Deep Chamber Road, which she said were not carpeted properly despite several representations.
