The capital city of Panaji which has received 170 inches of rainfall, should explore all possible avenues to reduce flooding throughout the city by a judicious interlinking of the new to be developed broader and deeper drainage system along with what is left of the Portuguese-era drainage system, which was so very effective at least in such manner that during the low tide and except during the high tide to at least halve flooding.
This should be taken up immediately and the funding for the same can be obtained by foregoing plans to install CCTVs in the capital city which anyway is not urgently needed and surveillance by CCTVs is not required since crime rate and non compliance with traffic norms as well as not wearing helmets is not being flouted with impunity by the city residents as well as those that frequent the city.
Except for Altinho which is at a high level, all other low-lying areas are prone to flooding and a scientific means by calculating the volume of the water at say 4 inches of rainfall on a particular day can be arrived at by knowing the topography of all the areas of the city, the entire area of the city in square meters, the gradients of the city and its drains. This can be technically arrived at in very precise terms and thus the broadening and the deepening of the city drains can be done so as to drain most of the water in fast enough time during heavy downpours.
The inter-linking of the newly to be built drains and the remnants of the Portuguese-era drains will definitely be able to reduce flooding at least by 50%. Now is the time to prepare an elaborate grid of drains in the city so as to once and for all alleviate the distress of the city dwellers by making concerted efforts to plan and execute this work.
ELVIDIO MIRANDA, via email
