By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 19: Many lanes and major roads in the capital get submerged knee-deep in every monsoon season.
The situation worsens further during downpour, as the major streets of the capital remain waterlogged and look more like rivers than roads thanks to lack of proper drainage system.
Experts blame the defect in road design in Kathmandu for this problem.
Most streets of the Valley get filled with water up to a foot high and walking across them is risky.
Taking this situation into consideration, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is planning to resolve the problem by improving the drainage system.
Mayor Bidhya Sundar Shakya said the city office had been holding a series of dialogues with the concerned government authorities and locals of the city about the ways to free the city streets from monsoon floods.
On Tuesday, the metropolis officials discussed with the ward chairs of ward-1, ward-28 and ward-30 and locals of Bagbazaar and Putalisadak regarding the problem.
During the meeting, the locals of ward-28 shared their worries that if the office implemented such a big project, the Tukucha would not be able to hold the overflow of drainage water.
Stating that if that happened, then the whole settlement might get flooded with water; the locals asked Mayor Shakya to forward the project along with suitable alternatives.
After hearing the comments of the locals, Mayor Shakya assured them that the KMC would prepare the project considering the existing geographic condition of Tukucha, Putalisadak and Bagbazaar area, the technical aspect of the drainage system and demands of the locals.
“Like Putalisadak and Bagbazaar, Jamal remains waterlogged during every monsoon. The KMC will soon resolve the issue,” said Shakya.
Every year, flooding occurs in Putalisadak and Bagbazaar because more amount of rainwater enters the Tukucha River from Maharajgung, Naxal and Kamalpokhari exceeding its capacity.
The only solution to this is to construct drainage system with a capacity to hold rainwater collected in the streets and the area, said Ram Thapa, chief of the Physical Infrastructure Division of KMC.
He said the water accumulating in Putalisadak could be managed by making a big manhole somewhere there and diverting the water in three directions—towards Bagbazaar, Putalisadak and the lower part of Shankerdev Campus, he added.