JAMMU: Pre monsoon showers, which lashed Jammu early Tuesday morning, once again exposed the preparedness of the Jammu Municipal Corporation and left large number of local residents stranded in the knee deep thick layers of slush and muddy waters.
Large number of business establishments and houses located in low lying areas were flooded with muddy water and spoiled their goods and house hold material.
Even the State Health Minister Bali Bhagat became victim as his official residence was flooded with water and the local authorities had to press fire brigades fitted with big suction pumps to drain out water from his residential premises.
The venue of the International Yoga Day, MA Stadium, was flooded with water too following breach in the ‘nullah’ in front of the VVIP enclosure.
Soon after the Yoga session culminated heavy downpour played havoc. Large number of official cars and private motor vehicles parked in the area remained under 3-4 feet deep water level in the area.
The participants including media persons faced lot of hardships in moving out of the area as they failed to find their way due to water logging.
Large number of school children who participated in the event and other participants were left alone as both the organisers and JMC authorities had ignored the condition of the over-flowing ‘nullah’ and the damages it could have done.
The situation of the canal road was worse.
Despite carrying out cleaning operations of lanes and drains ahead of the monsoon season the area witnessed water logging.
Even posh areas of Gandhi Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Nanak Nagar ,Talab Tilloo witnessed flooding of water due to illegal construction over open lanes and big ‘nallahs’. The situation out side the Nanak nagar Gurudwara was pathetic as shopkeepers suffered huge losses due to flooding of rain water.
The shop keepers in the area alleged that despite meeting JMC Commissioner and her spot visit, the situation on ground zero worsened even ahead of monsoon. The residents of Ambedkar Nagar in Trikuta Nagar came on the streets and protested against the casual behaviour of the JMC authorities.
Raising slogans against the local legislator Kavinder Gupta, large number of women claimed they have been living with this reality for past several years but depsite tall claims during election season and visits of politicians things remain unchanged on ground zero.
The women lambasted JMC authorities for taking them for a ride. They alleged that JMC officials were neck deep in corruption and enjoy patronage of politicians that is why they careless for common masses and their problems.
Residents of Krishna Nagar also accused the JMC authorities of play cruel joke with them every year during rainy season. The situation elsewhere also painted dirty picture of JMC as heaps of garbage lay scattered in the middle of the roads even after the rains stopped. Roads in Channi Himmat, Bhatindi, Greater Kailash and Sainik Colony suffered huge damages as large stretches were washed away under the black topped roads adding to the miseries of the motorists.