Class 11 English — Full Syllabus Test 3

The town that stopped flooding

Every monsoon, the small town of Rampur used to flood. Water from the hills rushed down the old drains, which were choked with plastic bags and silt, and within hours the market street turned into a brown river. Shopkeepers lost their stock, and children missed school for days. Three years ago, a group of college students decided to study the problem instead of complaining about it. They walked the town with the municipal engineer, mapped every drain and counted the points where rubbish collected. Their report showed that most blockages were caused by waste thrown from just a few busy corners. The town responded with simple steps. Covered bins were placed at those corners, shopkeepers agreed to sweep outside their shops each evening, and volunteers cleared the drains before the rains. Last monsoon the rain was as heavy as ever, but the market stayed open. The students say the biggest change was not in the drains but in people's belief that they could solve their own problems.