Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The season's first major storm and rainfall on Thursday exposed serious gaps in the pre-monsoon preparedness of Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the central discom.
Despite months of maintenance drives and drain-cleaning claims, strong winds and rain disrupted power supply across nearly 300 localities, affecting 200 feeders for about eight hours, uprooted dozens of trees and caused waterlogging in several residential areas.
The situation became even more alarming due to BMC's ongoing AMRUT 2.0 project across the city. Hundreds of kilometres of roads were dug up and only patchwork and mud filling have been done.
Due to the pre-monsoon rain, commuters are struggling to use their vehicles safely.
Maintenance claims under scrutiny
For the past month, residents of Aishbagh, Bhanpur, Tulsi Nagar, Govindpura and Patel Nagar have six-to-seven-hour power cuts for maintenance work.
However, the first storm of the season exposed vulnerable infrastructure, with fallen trees damaging power lines and poles and causing widespread outages.
Residents have also raised concerns over exposed transformers and tangled overhead wires in busy locations like Nehru Nagar, New Market, Govindpura Industrial Area and MP Nagar, where electrical hazards remain visible despite ongoing repair campaigns.
Flood risks loom over hundreds of colonies
The rainfall also highlighted the city's drainage crisis. According to municipal records, nearly 22,000 encroachments exist on 789 drains and stormwater channels, while around 300 drains have disappeared over the past decade.
Civic experts warn that nearly 800 colonies remain vulnerable to waterlogging if encroachments are not removed and drainage channels restored.
Areas including Shivaji Nagar, Tulsi Nagar, Banganga, Sarvadharam, Bharat Talkies, Rachna Nagar, Gautam Nagar and Kotra Sultanabad are considered highly susceptible to flooding during heavy rainfall.
Trees uprooted, waterlogging reported
The BMC Fire Control Room received reports of fallen trees from 38 locations, with major disruptions reported on Link Road No. 1 to Link Road No. 4, Four Imli and Shyamla Hills.
Waterlogging complaints were received from Choudhary Nagar in Kolar and Gondi Basti in Gandhi Nagar, where dewatering pumps were deployed.
BMC officials said teams worked overnight using JCBs, dumpers and cutters to clear trees and restore traffic movement, claiming operations were carried out at more than 350 locations across the city.
Special drive on
Municipal Commissioner Sanskriti Jain said a special cleanliness drive had been underway since May 1. She assured priority action against encroachments obstructing water flow.
Discom Superintending Engineer Pradeep Singh Chauhan told Free Press that the outages were due to an extreme weather event with wind speeds nearing 80 km/h, stating that most power supply had been restored.
