PRAYAGRAJ: The city was in a gigantic mess on Thursday as a brief spell of heavy rain once again exposed the civic body’s lack of preparedness of monsoon.
Most parts of the city, including Chowk, Katra, Mutthiganj, Alopibagh, Niranjan Bridge Road, Allahapur, Civil Lines and Colonelganj witnessed waterlogging, which brought traffic to a grinding halt.
Although overcast conditions prevailed since early morning, heavy rain started only in the evening.
According to the meteorological department (Indian Air Force), the city received 9.8mm rainfall between 8am and 6pm .
With fresh rainfall, the water level of Ganga and Yamuna in Phaphamau, Chantnag and Naini was recorded as 77.21 m, 71.26 m and 72.55 m.
The rain brought welcome respite from sulty weather prevailing for the past few days, with the maximum temperature was 33.7 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 25.3 degrees Celsius.
The relative humidity was recorded as 100 per cent.
Haseeb Ahmad, an old city resident, said: “A brief spell of heavy rain brought relief from sultry weather, but it also exposed the tall claims of Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC) of cleaning the drains and nullahs.” He said, the residents of the old city areas, including Nakhas Kona, Ranimandi, Khuldabad, Aatala, Luckerganj, Akbarpur, Guas Nagar, were inundated due to chocked drains.
Senior Congress corporator Mukund Tiwari alleged that majority of city drains were chocked and as a result, locals had to face the wrath of the rainy season.
He added that a brief spell of rains on Thursday exposed the clear picture of the smart city.
Residents of Mutthiganj, Alopibagh, Allahapur, Katra and old city areas also complained about bad condition of roads.