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Rain is good news for Mehsana Tuesday, August 21, 2001

BY KIRAN MATHUR, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
MEHSANA: The palls of drought which hovered over the district two months ago have been dispelled by the 5505 mm rainfall. The district administration is jubilant over the prospects of good crop and easing of the problem of drinking water and irrigation.

Last year the total rainfall was only 2704 mm whereas in 1999 it was 4020 mm. This means that the current monsoon has already brought 51 per cent more rain than the previous one with 906 mm of rainfall. Mehsana has recorded the highest rain this year as compared to 413 mm last year and 613 mm in 1999. Unjha on the other hand, with 419 mm this year continues to be the recipient of the lowest rainfall in the district. It has received 294 mm and 150 mm in 2000 and 1999 respectively.

Good rains after three year long spell of semi scarcity has brought a long awaited respite for farmers who are now busy with farming. According to sources in the agriculture department of district panchayat 1,85,447 hectares of land is under various crops and the over all picture is quite satisfactory.

But with rains having washed away its cosmetic layers, Mehsana glorified as oil city and milk city reveals its real ugly face. Roads in and around Mehsana have simply disappeared. The one known as the highway that passes through the new Mehsana lay bare with grit showing itself and the dry sand raised by the vehicles creating veil of dust that blinds the eyes and fill the mouth.

The GIDC occupied by the affluent class is a spectacle of water logged roads, filth and poorly maintained public amenities. The road just off the highway having the GIDC post office and small and big units remains water-logged for days on with water entering the post office and other buildings. Though water is pumped out from time to time and there is a recharging well to receive the overflow from the highway, the measures have proved inadequate and tentative. And owner of a unit said the level of the highway goes up by about six inches in every five years since it was not scrapped before resurfacing after rains. This, he said, has increased the overflow into the low lying GIDC.

The Gayatri Mandir Road just off the highway which was turned into a CC road a few months before rains disappeared with the first showers and the half a kilometre stretch remains what the people call it the Vaitarni (the river of the hell). The overflowing gutters add stink to the water-logged post hold roads and threaten to be a major health hazard.

The new ex tension of the Bhammariya underbridge is congenitally gutter afflicted. One cannot pass through it without splashing the dirty stinking water even on sunny days. This and the Gopinala, the other underbridge which connects the old city with new soon get flooded cutting off the link between two Mehsanas. The stranded people have to wait for hours before crossing over. People wonder at the incompetence of the engineers to keep the underbridges free from flooding in this age of technology.

The nagarpalika spent Rs 10 lakh to provide the divider to ease the traffic on the B K road and raised poles for sodium lamps to illuminate the busy road. Now the road does not exist and lamps which had stopped shining before the rains bears testimony to this apathy and to the insensitivity of the nagarpalika authorities. The dividers here and on the highway are proving to be a tool of comfort for the cattle to recline on. The stray cattle on the highway and elsewhere often outnumber the pedestrians and one would be compelled to think that the city had been turned into a panjra pole with the elected executives turning a Nelson's eye to the people's woes.

News Source : Times Of India News Service [ Lightning News ]

 

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