The first rain showers left the Panjim city inundated and people stranded for hours either in their own vehicles or buses.
However, that has not alerted the authorities to put their contingencies plans in place and plan for similar or worst situations during the ensuing monsoon season.
Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) claims that much before any other town in state, the Panjim Corporation had begun the desilting and cleaning of drains and nullahs in mid-January.
But despite the inundation on Wednesday with 136 mm of rains in the city, the authorities have not paid heed to the alarms and have not co-ordinated for any solutions to the problem.
Responding to the question, CCP Mayor Surendra Furtado said that the municipality has prepared a list of workers who will be deployed during the night hours to attend to the citizens.
Furtado pointed that the district level disaster management cell is the authority to carry out any such emergency works. However, it needs to be realised that the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) responds only in times of disasters and not inundation of the city due to water clogs.
But defending the CCP’s acts, the Mayor said “We started work in mid-January and by May we completed the pre-monsoon works across the whole city. I have personally been on the ground to ensure that the workers are doing the work properly.”
As a remedy to avoid plastic flowing into the drains, CCP, on Saturday, distributed more than 200 dustbins in the old municipal market, requesting the vendors and shopkeepers to restrain from throwing plastic in the open and cautioning the others too to follow.
PWD Executive Engineer Dileep Dhavalikar rubbished the allegations that the inundation was due to the department’s works. He said “The pipelines have been laid more than three years ago and the cross drains have not been cleaned since. With plastic flowing into the drains accompanied with high-tide led to the inundation of the city.”
Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) officials too denied the allegations that the areas around the KTC bus stand were inundated due to blocking of the main drain by GSIDC to facilitate the works of the third Mandovi Bridge.
