Waterlogging continues to be a serious problem for the residents of Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh town.
Rains on Friday night waterlogged some of the streets of Dibrugarh town.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The road from Thana Chariali to Shankardev Hospital was affected due to waterlogging.
Dibrugarh is the home district of Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
But even after three-year rule of the BJP-led government in Assam, there has been no solution to the waterlogging problem of Dibrugarh.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The residents of Dibrugarh have expressed unhappiness at the functioning of the Dibrugarh Municipal Board (DMB).
“Waterlogging has become a serious problem for the residents of Dibrugarh owing to unplanned drains. The construction of drains has been going on, but it is yet to be completed,” Abhijit Shil, a resident of Dibrugarh town, told Northeast Now.
“Due to the negligence on the part of the contractors, the work of drains is going on at a slow pace in Dibrugarh town,” alleged Shil.
Moreover, the unchecked encroachment near the Dibrugarh Town Protection (DTP) drain is one of the main reasons of waterlogging in Dibrugarh town.
However, every year, the people of the town have to suffer due to waterlogging in Dibrugarh.
For the past few years, the people are having a harrowing time due to waterlogging in monsoon season.
Despite some of the initiatives taken up by the district administration to solve the waterlogging problem, citizens are skeptical about its success.
The locals have blamed non-completion of the 9.5-km long DTP drain, which is the principal stormwater drain of the town, for the main cause of waterlogging in the town.
Work on complete renovation of the drain was taken up in June 2014 under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) project at a cost of Rs 169.89 crore.
However, even before 20 per cent of the work could be completed, Corsan Corviam Construction, a Spanish company, which bagged the tender, abruptly left the project in November 2017, after its parent organisation in Madrid filed for bankruptcy.
The project has been stuck in limbo since then.
Frequent waterlogging and flash flood in the past one month has already left 49 roads in the town damaged.
Some of the roads, which were damaged by flash flood are AT Road, Red Cross Road, Milan Nagar Road, British India Road, Vivekanada Road, Kadamoni-Kalibari Road, Dakhin Khalihamari Road and Bagchipara Road.
Some other roads which were also damaged due to flood are Asit Nagar Road, Lila Gogoi Path, Rose Golli Road, Akashi Path, BNP Road, Loharpatty Road, Mahalaya Road, Jahaj Ram Das Path, Railway Colony Road and Gangapara Road.
Repair and restoration works of the damaged roads are supposed to be taken up under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) at the end of the monsoon season.