Normal life was affected in the summer capital due to incessant rains on Thursday.
Rains caused waterlogging in several city areas hampering smooth vehicular and pedestrian movement.
Roads in many areas including Lal Chowk, Residency Road, MA Road, Munwarabad, Bohri Kadal, Hari Singh High Street, ZainaKadal, Khayam, Polo View witnessed massive waterlogging. The dilapidated roads also turned into cesspool. Photographs of dilapidated road with water logging of areas including Bemina, Batamaloo, Syed Abad Soiteng, Pantha Chowk, Dalgate, Nishat, Sour and other localities also went viral on social media. Netizens also uploaded photographs and videos of waterlogging occurred in different areas and raised questions over the concerned authorities’ inaction.
“Waterlogged roads, traffic jams, potholes, and inattention by authorities have become a norm now in Srinagar city,” said an angry group of people at Fateh Kadal.
They added that primarily a drainage system must be constructed to keep rainwater off the roads, localities and markets. Residents of Rambagh complained that due to lack of attention of authorities, drains are getting clogged.
Mehraj Ahmad, a local of Barbarshah said that keeping the drains clean and maintaining proper garbage disposal is one of the key responsibilities of the municipality of any city.
He said that existing drainage system should be regularly cleaned and desilted.
SMC Commissioner Athar Aamir Khan told Greater Kashmir that dewatering operations were carried throughout the day.
He added that all 85 permanent dewatering stations are functional and 34 mobile dewatering pumps have been installed at vulnerableplaces, besides 15 sucker jetting machines.
“To tackle the water logging problem, we have upgraded 28 dewatering stations while upgradation of rest is under progress. We have increased their capacity from five to ten times,” he said while replying to a query. He added that desilting process is going on and have been carried in various areas including Parimpora and some other areas.
He added that experts have prepared a project with an aim to redressed water logging problem in city, adding, “It will be executed shortly.”