Every year, the NCR residents keep waiting for the monsoons with bated breath to seek respite from the scorching summers. While it is natural to romanticise the rains, many of us had a lot of reasons to fear this season owing to havoc that was wrecked by the rains in the NCR.
Waterlogged roads, dangerous Yamuna river levels and difficulty to navigate on roads threw the normal life out of gear in the city.
Many low-lying areas were inundated disrupting the lives of the people staying in the vicinity.
Residents feared stepping out of homes and heading to their offices in Delhi. One literally had to wade through the road along the Mayawati Park during the rain showers early this season. Though the temperatures dipped, the rough weather brought with it a new set of miseries.
Shalini Verma, a resident of Sector 78, Noida, said, “I leave office during the afternoon everyday and when it rained consecutively, I was unable to book cabs or autos due to which I had to travel in e-rickshaws. The roads were badly clogged and it seemed to be dangerous to step out of the house.”
Another resident of Sector 77, said, “Even a brief spell of rain in our city is enough to hold people hostage. The lack of de-silting of drains also has to be blamed. The road leading to Sector 18 got waterlogged to such an extent that the traffic almost crawled that day. It took me 2 hours to reach Delhi from Noida that day.”
Yamuna Devi, working as a house help in a society in Sector 76, Noida, said,” I do not want to recall the horror of the days when it rained so heavily last month. I used to come in shared autos and once had to change the autos thrice as each one of them stopped functioning on waterlogged roads. Even my house witnessed flooding during those days.
Monsoons can be both boon as well as bane. Devising appropriate strategies can help mitigate the losses during this season.
