MADURAI
The downpour in the wee hours of Tuesday resulted in water-logging at the sub-way connecting the Workshop Road and Arapalayam that police had to divert the vehicular movement for over six hours.
The rain, which had hit the normal life over the last one week, pounded the low-lying areas on Tuesday. Many pockets in Sellur were inundated and the woes of the residents in a majority of the added wards were terrible.
The residents woke up to a heavy rain, which stopped only around 8.30 a.m. The four hour rain not only choked the congestion problems at peak hour, but also exposed the poor upkeep of the civic authorities.
Though the officials swung into action and were engaged in pumping out the rainwater with the help of giant size motors, in many locations, the shortage of plumbers and electricians with the authorised contractors of the Madurai Corporation added to the woes.
A technician, who was attending to the problems at Girder Palam (near Workshop Road) said that the 25 HP motor was under repair. Hence, water was being pumped out with one 10 HP motor. This will take at least four hours to clear out the water-logging.
The CPI (M) local unit secretary Saravanan said that when the government and district administration claimed that there was no dearth of funds for carrying out temporary restoration, such poor upkeep of motors only showed the nonchalant attitude of the officials.
The slackness shown by some officials brought in a bad image for the government, he claimed and hoped the top officials in the Corporation pulled up their subordinates.
Many people claimed that the civic authorities were giving a stock reply that the issue would be resolved. Though the Corporation had given WhatsApp number among other platforms, the redressal was not carried out then and there.
A city traffic police officer said that the sub-way was closed for traffic between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. Later, at 2 p.m, the vehicles were allowed under the stretch.