Residents blame district administration for laxity in preparing for the monsoon

NEW DELHI: In view of the early arrival of the monsoon in the Capital, officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will now have to personally supervise de-watering operations in water-logged areas. At a review meeting on Monday, MCD Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta said the civic body officials had been provided with 550 portable de-watering pumps to take care of vulnerable points across the city.

After a delay of several months, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will finally start the much-publicised survey on the city's water bodies. The survey was supposed to end by February this year. The civic authorities however cited infrastructure problems for delaying the project. At present the survey will be carried out on an experimental basis in selected Wards of KMC.

Ballygunge Circular Road. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya and Talat Salahuddin Ballygunge Circular Road, that winds its way from Ballygunge Phari in the south and meets Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road in the north, is a tree-lined avenue with a lot of surrounding greenery. The sprawling Ballygunge Maidan Camp and the Ballygunge Science College campus are the dominant green zones here. A part of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation's (CMC) ward No. 69, this is primarily a residential area populated by a cosmopolitan crowd and of course the most elusive Calcuttan

Waterlogging woes in some pockets of Calcutta will be as bad as last year, or even worse. In the rest of the city, the mayor hopes, the problem will persist with "much less' severity. The pockets that are feared to be worst hit include Thanthania, Madan Mohan Burman Street, Chittaranjan Avenue and Camac Street-Wood Street in Calcutta proper and Behala in the added areas.

The early arrival of monsoons combined with the ill-preparedness of civic agencies, caused parts of the city to come to a near halt on Sunday. It was a clear indication of how Delhiites will have to deal with waterlogged roads and massive traffic jams all through the rainy season. The control rooms of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received 49 complaints of waterlogging with the maximum complaints reported in West Zone

They toil all day to desilt drains without any protective gear. Working without gumboots, gloves and masks, MCD desilting labourers will find that nothing is going to change this year despite tall claims made by the civic agency. The contractors are supposed to provide boots, helmet and gloves to workers as per the guidelines laid down in MCD contract. However, it is not followed. According to sources, MCD can blacklist or cancel the contract of a contractor who is found to be flouting guidelines.

A well-equipped multi-story residential complex would be built under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for the slum dwellers to be removed from Govindpura industrial area. The building would be constructed by Bhopal Municipal Corporation. This decision was taken at a meeting convened for redressing problems prevailing in Govindpura industrial area. The meeting was chaired by Industry Minister Malaiya. Commercial Taxes Minister Babulal Gaur and Mayor Sunil Sood were also present.

THE metropolis has been flooded on the very first day of the rain, exposing the hollowness of BMC's tall claim on rain-preparedness, but the Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak blames it on heavy outpouring and high tide. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Phatak said during monsoon on an average a city gets over 40mm of rainfall daily. However, the city received 161mm in the very first rain due to which the water logging took place.

As torrential rains lashed the city throughout day on Sunday, several disasters, including uprooting of trees, fires, accidents, house collapse were witnessed. The control rooms of the fire brigade and the BMC were inundated with calls reporting catastrophes yesterday. The Mumbai Fire Brigade reported 14 cases of tree felling and 21 cases of minor fire incidents in the city, whereas there were 3 cases of house/wall collapsing in Sewri, Worli Koliwada and Null bazaar.