People cross a waterlogged road on rickshaws on Tuesday. Areas like Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar, Zoo Road and Lachit Nagar have remained submerged for the past 24 hours because of heavy rain. (PTI)

Aug. 19: Dispur today asked the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and the public works department to strictly follow the standing instructions on public safety while cleaning drains or face punitive actions.

An official said the Guwahati development department today held a meeting to review the measures taken to minimise artificial floods and to cover drains.

A teenaged boy had drowned in a roadside drain in Fatasil Ambari last evening and a three-year-old child had fallen into an open drain on Sunday.

“Punitive actions will be taken against officials and engineers of the GMC, GMDA and the PWD if they do not adhere to the safety norms while carrying out desiltation. The GMC is conducting an inquiry into the causes and circumstances that led to the drowning of a 14-year-old boy in Fatasil Ambari. The joint commissioner of the GMC, M.P. Sarma, is conducting the inquiry,” the official said.

Sarma said he had started investigations into the teenaged boy’s death by talking to residents and officials of other departments.

Fresh instructions have been issued to the GMC, GMDA and the PWD to ensure that the areas where the slabs were removed from drains for cleaning are properly barricaded by bamboo poles or ribbons to prevent any untoward incident.

A team of officials of the GMC and the PWD has started inspecting the drains that were left uncovered during a recent desiltation drive.

Meanwhile, several areas of the city have been waterlogged for the past 24 hours because of heavy rain. This has inconvenienced the residents of Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar, Zoo Road and Lachit Nagar..

“The entire Lachit Nagar remains waterlogged since Monday evening. The situation has aggravated following heavy rain that lashed the city on Tuesday afternoon. Normal life has been crippled,” Nabin Hazarika, a resident, said.

The Kedar Road Unnayan Samiti has submitted memoranda to the deputy commissioner of the Kamrup (metro) district, the GMC commission and the chief engineer of the PWD, city division, demanding urgent steps to solve the civic problems faced by the residents of Kedar Road.

“Poor drainage system, illegal parking, non-lifting of garbage and non-existence of streetlights have made Kedar Road, a prime residential-cum-commercial area, the worst place to live in. A smart shower is enough to waterlog the area,” Bikash Gupta, a resident and social activist, said.