Intermittent rains since Saturday midnight played havoc with the puja celebrations in Tripura. On Saptami night large parts of the city went under knee deep water as all drains and water outlets started spilling over. The puja celebration came to grinding halt –and everything turned deserted leaving the entire city silent but illuminated with magical lights reflecting on waters on the roads.
Rains started from Saturday midnight exactly at 2 am and continued with varied intensity—often drizzling, often heavy showers. As the dawn broke with clouds hovering overhead there was no let up in the rains thorough out the day. People waited and hoped that by night the weather would improve and they would be able to come out and ravel. But , it did not happen. In fact by afternoon the rains intensified and the roads, puja pandals everything turned deserted as people preferred to remain homebound. By 7.30 pm at night city drains that were carrying the rains water swelled up and spilled over on road—the waterlogging of the rain water added. Several city roads just got inundated and the Puja celebration went silent. People stayed homebound and those who dared to come out once hurried back. Even the big budget puja pandals became empty.
The traffic was already thin since morning –partly due to the increased CNG price and partly due to the climate. At night even the private cars which had been seen in the city went off the road.
AMC and other concerned officials reviewed the situation and by 11 pm the rains stopped. But the situation did not improve much.
