Karwar: Karwar city, which is very close to Arabian Sea, is almost at the sea level and some residential areas are below the sea level.
Even for a small downpour, rainwater gets logged in the low-lying areas of the city. After recent rain havoc in Mangaluru, now Karwarians are thinking how safe is their city?
The coastal town receives heavy rain during monsoon. It’s a common sight in every monsoon that some residential areas including KHB colony and Nandangadda submerge partially.
There are stormwater drains in the city but the water won’t move forward after heavy rain. The residents face the same problem every year.
While people hate rainy season as their houses and roads submerge in the rainwater, the 150-year-old Karwar municipality is yet to find a solution to the centuriesold problem. Karwar city municipal council (CMC) environmental engineer Mallikarjun G B said as part their monsoon Preparation, all drains in the city have been cleaned. CMC’s civic employees have taken the work of de-silting drains on war-footings after the assembly election and completed the work, he added.
“Silt of Konenala, the main drain, is also cleared and there is no pending work. The CMC is prepared for the monsoon. We hope there will not by any rain related complaints this year,” he added. Recalling 2009 rain and landslide incident, retired banker M P Kamat said Karwar was isolated following heavy rain and all roads leading to Karwar were closed.
As there was no way for rainwater, national highway 66 was dug up to allow water to pass, he added. “Luckily there was no such incident in the last nine years. If the city receives heavy rain, the situation will be worse than Mangaluru.
Water logging is always a big issue in Karwar. Neither the CMC nor the district administration has taken adequate steps to resolve the issue,” he added. Experts say that the work of main drain Konenal has not yielded desired results.
“There should be a system to pump out the drain water from the low-lying Konenala to Arabian sea. Only then the problem will be solved,” said an expert.