TIRUPATI: A brief spell of a rain on Thursday exposed the lack-of preparedness on the part of the Tirupati Municipal Corporation.
This was despite tall claims by the civic body that it had set things right in the pilgrim city and there was no cause for worry about heavy rains and flash floods.
The temple city, reeling under the impact of a severe heatwave over the last few days, had some respite on Thursday afternoon following a brief spell that lashed almost all the parts of the city including the villages on the outskirts.
The city roads had however turned into tiny ponds, causing inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians. Several important roads and a few junctions in the city were flooded with rainwater once again and the municipality staff were nowhere to be seen.
In the last November-December months, the city had witnessed flash floods following heavy rain. The floodwaters inundated several low-lying areas, causing severe hardships to the public and the Tirumala-bound devotees.
Considering the past experience, the civic body took up construction of roads and drainage canals on various roads in a bid to prevent future flooding. However, denizens say the works are progressing at snail’s pace due to the negligence of civic authorities and the municipal contractors executing the drainage canal works.
“On the way to my home in Tiruchanoor, I have witnessed water-logging and traffic congestions in some areas. The Tiruchanoor junction has flooded completely, near the flyover underside, as usual. Although the works carried out by the civic body were better this time than before, these did not help much,”, said Raghavan, a resident of Tiruchanoor.
A senior official from the civic body claimed that the drainage canal works being carried out by the civic body was better than before. The works are yet to be completed in a few areas, and this caused the water-logging on Thursday, he said.
