Ghaziabad gets pre-monsoon rain along with waterlogging

The civic body officials say they have readied 20 teams to check and monitor 56 waterlogging points across five zones of the corporation this time

A heavy spell of pre-monsoon rain on Thursday morning brought much-needed relief to people jostling with severe heat conditions.

Some residents said the rain also hampered traffic on the National Highway-9 as many office goers were caught unawares by the shower and some of them took shelter beneath underpasses. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

However, the brief spell also saw temporary waterlogging at different parts of the city, said municipal and district officials.

According to the Ghaziabad municipal corporation officials, they have readied 20 teams to check and monitor 56 waterlogging points across five zones of the corporation.

“The road from Mangal Bazar to Swarn Jayanti Park in Indirapuram had a waterlogging issue and it took about three to four hours for water to clear off. The cleaning of drains must be expedited. It has been hampered largely due to construction of ramps,” said Mohan Sangwan, a resident of Shakti Khand, Indirapuram.

A few other residents said the rain also hampered traffic on the National Highway-9 as many office goers were caught unawares by the shower and some of them took shelter beneath underpasses, causing congestion.

“It is a recurrent problem every monsoon. The service lanes near the highway remain waterlogged and this leads to long snarls, especially during the peak hours,” said Tejesh Chauhan, resident of Pratap Vihar, sector 11.

Municipal corporation officials, however, informed that 20 teams have been formed by the civic agency to monitor 56 waterlogging points and take swift rectification measures.

“These include four permanent waterlogging points where we have deployed pumps to pump out water. These are underpasses at Gaushala Crossing, river Hindon, Sahibabad industrial area and UP Gate. Twenty teams will regularly monitor 56 points and will deploy equipment to rectify the waterlogging situation during monsoon,” said KP Anand, the corporation’s general manager (water works department).

The 56 waterlogging points include area of Gandhi Nagar, near GDA office, Meerut road crossing, Nandgram, Arthala, Apsara border, Brij Vihar, near Wave cinema at Kaushambi, Vaishali sector 3 and Saur Urja Marg in Sahibabad, among others.

“We have asked our personnel to remain alert about the traffic conditions in the monsoon and especially at the waterlogging points. They will take up traffic diversion measures as and when required to ensure smooth flow of traffic,” said Virendra Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city received about 3.5mm of rain (during 24 hours period from morning of June 26 to 27) while the maximum temperature during the period stood at 36.7 degrees Celsius (°C). The minimum temperature on Thursday was 26.3°C.

“Conditions are likely to become favourable for further advance of the south-west monsoon into some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, some more parts of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and some parts of Haryana, some more parts of Punjab, remaining parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir during next 2-3 days,” the IMD said in its forecast issued on Thursday afternoon.

The spell of rain also brought down the pollution levels to “satisfactory” levels in Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida.

The daily air quality index (AQI) of the Central Pollution Control Board stated that three cities recorded “satisfactory” AQI of 66, 88 and 62, respectively, on Thursday against 160, 167 and 139, respectively, recorded under “moderate” category on Wednesday.

According to the AQI scale, readings between 0 and 50 are considered “good”, 51 and 100 are “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 are “moderate”, 201 and 300 are “poor”, 301 and 400 are “very poor”, and 401 and 500 are “severe”.