DHARWAD
Heavy rain, which lashed city on Sunday evening, brought the entire city to a grinding halt and exposed the shoddy work by the civic authorities. Though it was bright and sunny in the morning, clouds started to gather post-lunch. Around 3pm, the city started to receive heavy rain, which lasted for more than 90 minutes. Following the downpour, the old PB road was totally choked. Due to poor drain network and choked gutters, the rainwater got stagnated on the road, bringing vehicular movement to a halt. Near the important junctions in the city including NTTF, Toll Naka, KMF and near SDM Medical College, the road was flooded with rainwater. This crippled the vehicular movement and serpentine queues of vehicles stranded on the flood roads were seen on both the sides. Even the dedicated BRTS Road too was flooded, making it cumbersome for Chigari buses to make it through the road. Several cars were stranded on the road and the citizens were seen blaming the officials for poor drain network. As it was Sunday, neither the HDMC officials nor the BRTS staff visited the spot to drain out the water, which further frustrated the vehicle owners.
At KMF, a couple of ambulances were also stuck in the traffic jam and were struggling to ply over the waterlogged road. Rainwater gushed into several low-lying areas including Saidapur, Rani Chennamma Nagar, Haveripet, Bhavikatti Plot and other areas, giving nightmares to the people.
The rural parts too received good rain for more than one hour and this activated agricultural activities. Following pre-monsoon rains, the farmers had gone for early sowing. The rains weakened in the first week of June, causing worry for the farmers. However, the rains certainly boosted their morale as it was a much-needed rain for the seeds to germinate.