Pond water spill over, devotees throng

Guwahati, Apr 16 (UNI) The entire populace of Jorhat was taken by surprise when a pond suddenly started overflowing yesterday.

As the water of the Rajamaidam Pukhuri in the Rajamaidam area in the town started to surge abnormally since yesterday morning, devotees from far and near poured in the area, drinking the water, having dips and filling the bottles with the 'holy water'.

The sea of humanity, which gathered at the place, paralysed traffic, prompting the administration to rush policemen to control the crowd.

Minor clashes were also reported, and some even sustained injuries while trying to get a sip of the water.

Press photographers were seen clicking snaps of the mysterious incident, while the nearby residents even called up their relatives, urging them to visit the place immediately to have some of the 'holy water'.

Fire tenders were pressed into service to pull out the flooding waters and prevent any water logging in the nearby areas, Jorhat ASP Mukul Saikia told UNI over phone today.

It is said the 30 ft by 30 ft pond was built during the ancient times.

The mystery of the sudden surge of water was solved after engineers from the Public Health department rushed to area and started investigating the causes. They discovered that a water pipeline running close to the pond had developed a leak and water from the pipeline, which runs into the Tocklai river flowing nearby, had entered the pond, resulting in the overflow.

After the engineers blocked the leak in the pipe, the water started to recede gradually.

UNI