Rain leaves Jodhpur water logged again

Jodhpur: Despite being the chief minister’s hometown and getting hundreds of crores of rupees for development projects, Jodhpur continues to struggle with water logging every monsoon season. Areas like New Roop Nagar, Sultan Nagar, colonies at Banar and Digari including Saran Nagar, and the highway to Jaipur invariably see water logging up to 3 feet every monsoon in absence of a channel to divert rain water to the Jojari river.
When these areas were inundated last year, the army had to be roped in. Minister Subhash Garg and Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat both had assured people that the situation would not recur next monsoon.
“We have been suffering from water logging during rains for the past seven years but still no solution has been worked out, despite several memorandums given to the administration and the government’s assurances,” said Gopal Singh Bhalasaria, a resident of New Roop Nagar.
The residents again submitted a memorandum to the district administration on Monday. Though district magistrate Himanshu Gupta and the commissioner of the municipal corporation (south) Utsav Kaushal visited the inundated areas following a spell of heavy rain, their directions were limited to calling in pumps to drain the water out.
An administrative official said that DPRs have been made 3-4 times for building a drain nallah to the Jojari river, but there has been no progress due to design issues and the objection of the army as the Banar road passes through the cantonment.