Vadodara: A video showing a group of foreigners standing on the metal shovel of an excavator in flood-hit Vadodara has gone viral, triggering mixed reactions. While some criticised the scene as “flood tourism”, others were intrigued by the unusual spectacle.
The video shows a bulldozer moving along a flooded road, with foreign nationals, evidently tourists in summer clothes and backpacks, smiling and clutching the bulldozer’s metal shovel at the front of the heavy machinery.
Local residents stood in front of shops along the flooded road and watched the foreigners (some of them taking photographs) as the bulldozer moved forward.
Some have expressed concern about the waste of resources amid the flooding, when hundreds of trapped people have been calling for help to be evacuated. The excavator could have been used for something better, such as clearing clogged drains and debris from flooded roads, residents said, according to local reports.
Vadodara was facing a crisis situation after the water level of the Vishwamitri river rose sharply following heavy rains for three days. The water has now receded in most parts of the city. Of the over 6,000 people who were rescued and relocated, 1,610 have returned to their homes, officials said.
In the initial days, when rainwater started entering homes in Vadodara, hundreds of residents sent distress messages and waited for help to arrive. Self-help groups helped with whatever resources they had at their disposal.
The State Emergency Operation Centre said only four places in the state received between 15 mm and 26 mm of rain between 6 am and 2 pm, while other parts remained dry or received light rains during this period. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that a deep depression over the Kutch region could develop into a cyclonic storm.
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