2024-08-01 14:24:16
Last week, 3 students died due to drowning in the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajendra Nagar of the capital Delhi. This matter has not even cooled down yet that 2 more deaths have taken place due to drowning in rain water in world-class Delhi. After the torrential rain on Wednesday, the roads of Delhi took the form of rivers. A 22-year-old woman and her 3-year-old son died due to drowning in the heavy waterlogging in Ghazipur area. This situation is not just of Delhi. On Thursday, 3 people died due to drowning in the basement after heavy rain in Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur. 2 people including a retired army man died due to drowning in Dehradun. Three lives were lost due to electric shock while walking in Gurugram, adjacent to Delhi. Just imagine that a country which considers itself among the emerging superpowers of the world, a country with the fastest growing economy in the world, a country with the fifth largest economy in the world, a country dreaming of becoming a Vishwaguru, a country eager to be included in the category of developed nations by 2047…and in its capital, lives are being lost due to drowning in seasonal rain water. The condition of other cities is also the same. As soon as there is a little rain, the roads become ponds. Roads become rivers. They become swimming pools. They become a death trap. Who knows, there may be an open manhole under water in which a person walking on the road may get drowned. Who knows, a wire hidden under the water from the spider web of wires may be waiting like death. Anything can happen. What can happen, is happening.
Why do our cities turn into ponds for hours after a little rain? Governments are to be blamed for this, but we are no less. Due to encroachment, even the drains are filled up. They are choked. In the blind race of increasing urbanization, new illegal colonies grow like mushrooms. Irregular colonies. Where even basic facilities are not available. Illegal colonies are also built like this. Neither roads nor drains. Due to political silence due to vote bank and bureaucratic corruption or negligence, such colonies keep growing.
The country that claims to be among the world’s biggest powers is not even able to build proper drainage systems in its cities. Water from cities is released to rivers through drainage lines. But usually the drainage systems remain blocked. Silt is not removed before the monsoon. Crores of rupees are spent in the name of desilting but often the work is done only on paper. Storm water drains built for drainage of rain water remain choked with mud, garbage and waste. On top of that, sewage lines are also connected to storm water drains, which further aggravates the problem. Urbanization is increasing rapidly in India. The load on cities is increasing but their infrastructure is not capable of bearing that load. The result of all this is that even a little rain floods the roads and lives are lost in them. When will we finally wake up? As a country. As a society. As an individual. When will we finally wake up?