MARGAO
The Margao Municipal square was inundated by flood waters early Thursday morning, with the water flooding the front passage of the heritage building, throwing up questions over the monsoon preparedness of the Margao civic body ahead of the monsoon.
Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar told the media that the civic body has constituted a disaster management cell with dedicated labourers, who will be equipped with tree cutting machines and vehicles to respond to disaster calls round the clock.
Water-logging was also reported on the main city roads, around the Madgaum café junction in the South, the old station road and the Old market-KTC road.
Flood waters nearly touched the stairs of the Margao Municipal building early morning after the Municipal square was flooded by water, indicating that the underground drains and cross drains have not been cleaned of the silt and waste.
While promising to find out the reasons behind the water-logging and flooding at the MMC building square and the building passage, MMC civic chief Damu Shirodkar said a disaster management cell will soon be put in place to respond to disaster calls in the municipal area. “The dedicated cell will be equipped with workers and tree cutting machine and a vehicle. The cell will work in shifts and will respond to emergency calls,” he said.
Saying a couple of trees and their branches had come down on the road due to the strong winds and overnight heavy rain, the MMC chief said he had hit the road at around 6.30 am to take stock of the situation in all the 25 wards. “This was the first rain, and trees and branches have come down due to the strong winds. Water-logging must have taken place due to people dumping the debris from their backyards along the roads for the MMC to lift away,” he said.
