Nearly 86% people surveyed say their district gets waterlogged during monsoon

Nearly 86 per cent of the people surveyed as part of a national study have claimed that their district gets waterlogged during the monsoon season which leads to traffic woes, loss of productivity and accidents.

The finding of the survey came on a day on which Delhi received its first monsoon showers that brought traffic to screeching halt and led to waterlogging.

To understand the extent of waterlogging and how life of people gets negatively impacted due to it, LocalCircles, a community social media platform, conducted a national survey that got over 29,000 responses from citizens residing in 304 districts of India.

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The first question in the survey asked citizens based on their experience over the past years, whether their city or district gets waterlogged during the monsoon, the report said.

In response, the majority -- 53 per cent of the citizens said, "Yes, quite badly" and 33 per cent said "Yes, somewhat", according to a statement.

A mere seven per cent of the respondents said, "No, drainage system is good and we do not get water logged”, while five per cent said, "No, we do not get waterlogged as local bodies are proactive", the statement said, adding that two per cent of the people remained undecided.

"On an aggregate basis, 86 per cent of citizens surveyed said their city/district gets water logged during the monsoon season," it said.

The respondents were also asked about the issues faced due to waterlogging.

In response, 76 per cent said they ended up spending much more time in traffic while 52 per cent reported loss of working hours or productivity.

Nearly fifty-four per cent said they have to face vehicle wear and tear and related costs while 57 per cent blamed waterlogging for increasing the risk of accidents, the statement said.

On an aggregate basis, water logging in cities or district is leading to people spending more time in traffic, lost productivity, increased vehicle wear and tear and more accidents, it added.

"On a day when streets are waterlogged, 76 per cent of the people said they end up spending much more time in traffic. In areas like Delhi NCR or Mumbai region where many travel for an hour or more to get to work, many relying on public transport end up losing working hours and their livelihoods.

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"With 86 per cent people explicitly stating that their city or district experiences water logging, the writing is on the wall. India needs liveable cities with effective drainage systems and not smart cities that take decades to build," it said.

Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents were men while 33 per cent respondents were women. Forty-eight per cent respondents were from tier-1, 27 per cent from tier-2 and 25 per cent respondents were from tier-3, 4 and rural districts, it said.

As Delhi received its first monsoon showers on Thursday morning, many areas, including newly-inaugurated Pragati Maidan tunnel, ITO, Ring Road, Barapullah Corridor, Delhi-Meerut expressway, Sarai Kale Khan, were waterlogged, causing traffic snarls for hours.

Due to the waterlogging, the traffic police had to shut Pul Prahladpur underpass for vehicular movement on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road leading to commuter woes.

Not only city areas but border points specially Delhi-Noida border, Chilla border, UP Gate, Delhi-Gurugram road experienced heavy traffic snarls as rains lashed the capital on Thursday morning.