Rains choke roads in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Stormwater management works taken up by Vijayawada municipal Corporation have proven to be a big failure during rains for the past three days. Drains in the city got blocked with the huge rain on Wednesday night and floodwater along with sewage. People are facing problems with the stagnated roads in the city. Negligence of the VMC in desilting the canals has worsened the situation.

A majority of the road junctions in the city got flooded causing inconvenience to the motorists as well as pedestrians in reaching their offices. The situation is worse in Suryaraopet, Seethara-mapuram, Mogalraja-puram, Christurajapu-ram, Siddhartha College Circle and other areas where drain water has overflown on to the roads. “City roads get inundated even for very small rain. A majority of the roads were flooded with drain and rainwater releasing a stinking smell. Plastic waste has blocked the side drains and underground drain-age,” says P.B. Sai Ram, a private employee.

“Desilting works taken up by the VMC proved to be ineffective even during small rain. We can imagine the actual situation of the city in the coming rainy season. Drain and rainwater is flowing on the streets and even manholes and potholes on roads are creating worries. Traffic jam has become a common sight at Christurajapuram with rainwater stagnating on the main road. The civic body should respond immediately,” says M.K. Atul Kumar, a techie.

Sanitary wing of the VMC had worked for hours to clear the blocked drains on the main roads and many streets are still in a bad condition with stagnated drainage and rainwater. Meanwhile, the VMC has arranged special teams to clear blocked drains considering the prediction of heavy rainfall with the entry of monsoon. “Drains in the city are blocked with rain and the VMC tried hard to clear them to avoid inconvenience to the public. Around eight special teams were formed to clear blocked drains in seven problematic divisions,”says VMC chief medical and health officer Gopi Naik.