Mysore/Mysuru: The officials and staff of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) including the Abhaya teams are preparing to tackle the menace of monsoon which is likely to hit the State in the first or second week of June.

To ensure smooth flow of rain water, the MCC has begun clearing silt in Raja Kaluve across the city and the MCC staff are clearing weeds, bushes grown in drains and are removing garbage which have chocked the drains.

The Corporation staff have started clearing the garbage deposited in drains by using earth excavating machines in low lying areas such as Sathyanagar in Narasimharaja (NR) Constituency, Krishnaraja (KR) Constituency’s Gowrishankaranagar and Aishwaryanagar and Chamundeshwari’s Bogadi, Anandanagar and other areas.

Even as works of cleaning the Raja Kaluve and drains are in progress, the Under Ground Drainage (UGD) system has collapsed in some areas leading to overflowing of sewage water in front of houses which could result in outbreak of diseases if the issue is not solved immediately.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Deputy Commissioner (Development) Mahesh said that there won’t be any monsoon related problem this time as the MCC is geared up to tackle all monsoon related problems.

“We have taken precautionary measure at all Raja Kaluves and low lying areas. We are clearing garbage deposited in drains and there will no problem unlike previous years. Steps are being taken to ensure free flow of rain water in drains,” he added.

But citizens complain that the officials were doing only superficial job and were not bothered about clearing garbage in drains despite garbage filled in drains and chocking them. They should first clear garbage in the drains, says a resident of Ward 54.

A resident of Rajarajeshwarinagar of Chamaraja Constituency pointed out that the water flooded houses in the area and caused serious problems to the residents. Who is responsible if similar thing happens this time also? “Drains are full of mud and stones and rain water does not flow smoothly on roads either. Instead of clearing the garbage they are busy doing other things. There are 112 houses in the area and we have just one borewell. During rainy season, rain water gets into borewell and we have no option but to drink the same water. We would be happy if such problems do not occur this time,” say the residents of the area.

Abhaya teams to the rescue

Formerly known as ‘Dhanush’ which was working during emergency situations since five years, the name was changed to ‘Abhaya’ about three years ago. There are three vehicles equipped with all necessary equipment to tackle emergencies such as tree fall, house collapse, houses getting flooded etc.

These three vehicles work in three Constituencies in city namely NR, Chamaraja and KR and the team members work round the clock in three shifts. The contract has been awarded to a contractor through a tender and the team members are outsourced. The Abhaya teams are also used to prune dangerous tree branches, clear debris of fallen houses etc. and these teams are supervised by MCC Assistant Executive Engineer (Vehicle Division).

Following gusty wind and rain, many trees had fallen across the city and the members of Abhaya teams rushed to the spots and cleared the fallen trees to make way for smooth flow of traffic.