Module: General Practice
Q3: Consider the following statements regarding the Urban Drainage System and Street Alignment in Mohenjodaro:
1. The roads and streets in the Lower Town were laid out along an approximate grid pattern, intersecting at right angles.
2. Archaeological evidence indicates that residential houses were built first, and subsequently, the streets and drains were laid out around them to fit the available space.
3. Every residential house needed to have at least one wall adjacent to a street to allow domestic wastewater to flow into the main street drains.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
2. Archaeological evidence indicates that residential houses were built first, and subsequently, the streets and drains were laid out around them to fit the available space.
3. Every residential house needed to have at least one wall adjacent to a street to allow domestic wastewater to flow into the main street drains.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
✅ Correct Answer: B
🎯 Quick Answer:
Option B is correct because statement 2 incorrectly reverses the chronological order of town planning.Structural Breakdown: The municipal layout followed a strict grid pattern.
The main drainage channels were constructed using bricks set in mortar, covered with loose bricks or limestone that could be removed for cleaning, and equipped with sumps or cesspits at intervals.
Historical/Related Context: This sophisticated level of civic engineering was not limited to large cities like Mohenjodaro; smaller settlements like Lothal also featured advanced drainage, where houses were built of mud bricks but drains were specifically constructed using durable burnt bricks.
Causal Reasoning: The settlement was planned before implementation.
Streets and street drains were explicitly laid out first, and only then were houses constructed along them.
This prerequisite ensured that every house could position at least one wall along the street, allowing domestic wastewater to efficiently gravity-flow into the public drainage network.