Title - Heavy shower submerges tracks

Bhubaneswar, July 6: A half-an-hour’s spell of rainfall left various parts of the city, including the railway station and tracks here, heavily inundated this afternoon.
B. Sailaja, an IT professional, had to wade through almost knee-deep water to reach the platform No. 1 from the main booking counter building at the Bhubaneswar railway station today.
“I never experienced such a situation at the city’s main and most important railway station. Recently, I read in newspapers that the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi suffered a flood-like situation on June 16. I experienced almost similar situation at the railway station here today,” she said.
Tapan Kumar Samantray, who commutes between Jatni and Khurda Road railway stations everyday, said the Bhubaneswar railway station was water logged for more than 30 minutes this afternoon.
A senior official of the Indian Meteorological Department said the city today received 20.6mm of rainfall.
The heavy spell of shower caused problems for commuters on the nearby Janpath as well.
Long queues of vehicles were spotted stranded at Sriya Square and on the stretch from Ram Mandir to Gurudwara as these areas were under knee-deep water.
Chief public relations officer of East Coast Railway J.P. Mishra said:“We immediately pressed two teams into service. One cleaned the affected area frequented by passengers and restored normality within half an hour, while the second studied the impact of the heavy rainfall on tracks near the station and examined safety aspects as the tracks were also submerged in water.’’
Mishra also added that such a flood like situation at the railway station and on railway tracks occurred for the first time here as rainwater also came to the station from the nearby Ashok Nagar area.
“We have taken the issue seriously and will adopt necessary measures so that it does not happen again. We will also talk to the civic authorities regarding discharge of rainwater from the area,” he added.