Like all previous years this year too the Bhopal Municipal Corporation failed to remove the garbage dumps and the rubble piled up on the footpaths and roadsides and desilt and clean the rainwater drains before the onset of the monsoons. Predictably, the unexpectedly heavy early monsoon showers have thrown the city out of gear. Once again the hapless citizens find themselves wading through ankle-deep/ knee-deep waters on the flooded streets and roads. It is a state of deluge in the low-lying areas. City's Mayor's claim that the rainwater drains had been desilted and cleaned is not borne out by the horrendous state of flooding of the roads, streets and open spaces all over the city. It will suffice to cite a couple of them to illustrate the desperate state of affairs that prevails. The rainwater drains all around the Bitton Market have been overflowing. The recently dug up sidewalks turned marshy with the filthy muddy waters swirling all over. The state of the Hoshangabad road extending from Habibganj Naka to Board building has been no better. Not only the entire stretch of road running between the Ravi Shankar Nagar and the Hoshangabad Road remains flooded, the digging up of the footpath along this road for cable laying by some company just before the rains has made the matters worse. In this area no drain has been cleaned/desilted. Most are full of garbage. The Dussehra Maidan, the subzi-haat complex and the rest of the neighbourhood have turned into cesspools of filth and squalor. The honest thing will be to get down to the business of cleaning the drains, refraining from engaging in or permitting fresh diggings of the roads and footpaths just before the rains, clearing the debris lying on the roads, streets and footpaths, filling up numerous potholes on the roads and streets, covering sewer holes with strong lids, removing ubiquitous encroachments on the roads and the footpaths, the real cause of littering and impounding the stray cattle infesting the roads well before the onset of the rains. Sadly the civic body has failed on all counts. There is hardly any need for quibbling over words over jobs not accomplished or ill accomplished. Some of the work can be undertaken on a war footing on dry days when it is not raining. It has been the same sorry story year after year. The civic administration has been less and less caring. Most claims about the works completed are ill founded. RJ Khurana