Why rains caught Jaipur napping

Since 2009, when a campaigning Rahul Gandhi sold Jaipur a "world-class city" dream, residents had been under the impression that such a city had almost arrived. Touristy Jaipur soon had a Metro system approved; its Jantar Mantar was inscribed on Unesco's World Heritage Sites list; a new master plan for Rajasthan proposed several provisions for the capital, with a 2025 deadline.

Then this year's rains came, exposing how far Jaipur has still to go.

"Who says this is a world-class city? It is on its way to becoming one. Such things take time," Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said. And principal secretary, urban development and housing, G S Sandhu said, "It was said Jaipur has the potential to become a world-class city. We are working towards it."

One of the reasons the flooding of Jaipur caught everyone unawares was that no one was used to it. The state's rainfall had been low for 30 years, and this year it was in fact bargaining with the Centre for drought relief when it began to pour.

"[There was] a lack of perception and maybe also lack of resources," concedes Sandhu. "We could not foresee that it would rain this heavily. It has never rained like this in the last three decades."

The last time it did was in 1981, when several roads and buildings caved in, killing scores of people. The government then started work on two new drains, the 5.5km Brahmapuri Nalla and the 11km Nag Talai. By the time they were completed in 1985, the deluge was only a memory and the two drains, along with the rest of the drainage system, had fallen into neglect. Officials admit that not once in the last three decades were they taken up for cleaning. This led to accumulation of so much debris and garbage that local civic bodies were intimidated by the monstrosity of the job and did not even attempt any sort of cleaning.

... contd.

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