Most areas of the summer capital Srinagar were water-logged following rains on Thursday, giving tough times to people.
Most of the roads, markets and localities including Residency Road, MA Road and Hari Singh High Street remained water-logged, resulting in massive traffic jams.
People were seen wading through rain water to reach respective destinations. The problem was compounded by defunct drainage system at various areas.
Despite three agencies – SMC, UEED and ERA — mandated to handle drainage system in Srinagar, the choked drains led to worsening of the situation.
The projects aimed to minimize water logging in the city areas, have already missed several deadlines. Effective de-silting of drains has so far also remained on papers only, causing rain water to overflow on the roads, complained commuters.
Under centrally sponsored scheme AMRUT, Union Ministry has released funds worth crores of rupees for construction of drainage system.
However, as per experts, the drainage system has not been executed technically at several places, resulting in submerging of areas with a mere shower.
The SMC city drainage executive engineer, Javid Iqbal shah said there was water logging at Residency Road, but he claimed the area was dewatered later.
An official said the SMC has 80 permanent stations and 115 mobile stations catering to around 90 percent of the city while UEED has 10 stations covering boulevard and Khanyar, apart from three stations controlled by the ERA.
“Additionally 49 more stations are being constructed by ERA under JTFRP. Rampant use of banned plastic and polythene also causes choking of drains in some areas. All three agencies are actively responding to water logging,” he said.