Sector V turned into a water world as the city was lashed by a sharp spell of rain on Monday morning and office-goers and others had a harrowing time negotiating roads that were under knee-deep water till the afternoon.
The situation was similar near the Haldirams crossing on VIP Road, Chinar Park as well as the approach roads to the airport.
In Sector V, most of the blocks and intersections were waterlogged, including College More and the SDF crossing, forcing many to reach their workplaces by rickshaw.
Rickshaw-pullers charged anything from Rs 100 to Rs 250, compared with the usual fare of Rs 30 or Rs 40, to ferry people from bus stops to their offices.
Subhamoy Paul, who works in a Sector V office near RDB Boulevard, said he had to pay Rs 150 for a rickshaw ride to his office in GP Block after getting off an app cab near The Benfish bus stop.
“The app cab driver refused to go further as the road was flooded. He was fearing that the car might break down. I had no option but to hail a rickshaw and pay Rs 150 for a 10-minute ride,” said Paul.
An official of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA), which provides civic services to the tech township, blamed the waterlogging to choked drains.
“Several drains that had been cleared in the past few days again got clogged because of rampant dumping of plastic and food waste in the gully pits and drainage channels,” the official said.
Another reason for the flooding, the official said, was that the water could not drain out fast enough because of Metro construction work.
“Thanks to the construction of the Metro viaduct, water cannot freely drain out into the Kestopur canal,” the official said.
“We have installed portable pumps along these areas so water can be drained into the canal directly. Tonight, we will launch a drive to clear the gully pits and drainage channels,” NDITA chairman Debashis Sen said.
As for the waterlogging along VIP Road, including the Haldiram’s intersection, and Chinar Park, an official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said: “These pockets are saucer-shaped, so water tends to accumulate there.”
The civic body, the official said, is building a drainage pumping station to ease out water woes in these areas.
Pockets of New Town were flooded, too, but the water receded once the rain stopped.
