Heavy rains leave city areas waterlogged

Vadodara: Barodians woke up to a pleasant surprise on Wednesday as heavy showers brought much-needed relief from the sweltering heat. However, the unseasonal downpour also led to waterlogging in several low-lying areas, disrupting normal life.

Areas like Sayajigunj, Fatehgunj, Tarsali, and old city localities such as Dandia Bazaar, Wadi, and Panigate saw roads submerged for hours. Civic officials and fire brigade teams were deployed to manage the situation and ensure minimal disruption.

The city has experienced rainfall over the last two days, with a thunderstorm on Tuesday evening causing widespread power outages. Over 100 teams from MGVCL worked round the clock to restore electricity. Officials reported that seven transformers were damaged during the storm but were promptly repaired. Thousands of complaints were addressed within two days.

However, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) opposition criticised the pre-monsoon work in the city after city streets got waterlogged on Wednesday. The VMC undertook a series of projects in response to last year's devastating floods, but the rain on Wednesday led to waterlogging in several areas.

While storm drains, ponds and the Vishwamitri river were not flooded or choked, rainwater pooled in many parts of the city. This occurred despite the civic body having recently undertaken several projects to improve stormwater drainage.

Congress councillor and former leader of the party in VMC, Ami Ravat, sent a letter about the waterlogging to the civic body. The letter said waterlogging was reported in areas such as Pratapnagar, Wadi, Ganeshnagar, Mandvi, Nagarwada, Kishanwadi, Karelibaug, Hathikhana, Akota, Subhanpura, Makarpura and Gotri.

Ravat said a major concern was that stormwater drains were used as an alternative to collapsed drains and were being used as open gutters. Additionally, the sewage system was used to remove stormwater, and sewage was overflowing in the city due to the rains. "There was water everywhere in the city except in the Vishwamitri," she said, adding that this happened at a time when the soil was dry and absorbed a lot of water.

The letter pointed out that stormwater drains were encroached on and demanded their clearing. It sought details of VMC's plans to tackle localized waterlogging in the city.