Delhi: Rainfall lays bare govt’s august claims

Delhi faced severe flooding after heavy rains, submerging streets and stranding commuters, highlighting the city's ongoing drainage issues and unfulfilled civic promises.

On Thursday, Delhi received the second heavy spell of rain of the season, hammering the city’s streets and washing away months of civic bravado. Arterial stretches went under, traffic ground to a halt, and the Public Works Department’s (PWD) proclamations of “massive desilting” dissolved in brown, churning floodwater.

Commuters wade through a waterlogged road after rainfall near AIIMS in New Delhi on Thursday. (PTI)

By mid-morning, swathes of south and central Delhi had turned into sprawling waterlogged pockets. Cars stalled, scooters sputtered, and buses inched forward like stranded ships.

Even areas that had so far escaped flooding this season – critical junctures of the city’s traffic flow such as Dhaula Kuan, Subroto Park, Sardar Patel Marg, Saket – were suddenly knee-deep in water.

In south Delhi, Greater Kailash, Malviya Nagar and the Ring Road near Subroto Park resembled shallow lakes.

Underpasses at Moolchand, beneath Zakhira flyover and at Pul Prahladpur became stagnant ponds, holding up traffic for hours. None were officially closed, but most were impassable.

“The waterlogging in the morning was unbelievable even at around noon when it had been over an hour since the rains stopped. All of south Delhi from Dhaula Kuan to RTR, Vasant Vihar and even upto Mahipalpur was waterlogged,” said Rohit Sisodia, a resident of Greater Kailash.

Elsewhere, the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road near Sainik Farm was a swirling mess. Saket metro station and Press Enclave Road were cut off. Both carriageways of Anuvrat Marg near Qutub Minar metro station disappeared under water, forcing buses and cars to crawl through the flood.

Even the iconic AIIMS flyover – situated in the heart of Delhi, and a crucial intersection on the Ring Road – was submerged in waist-deep water.

Commuters nearly throughout Delhi were forced to navigate a brown, swirling mess yet again.

The government’s proud showcase, Minto Bridge – a notorious flood-point now kept dry amid much fan-fare by the civic agencies – became a bitter punchline.

“We are unduly focused on Minto Bridge which is being used by the government to show their achievement while practically all of Delhi except Minto Bridge was drowning. We were stuck near ITO in knee-deep water for over half an hour and the situation remained so till afternoon,” said Vishwajeet Singh, a commuter going towards Delhi secretariat.

The misery wasn’t confined to one side of the city. Shahdara-Mandoli Road, Burari main road, Jail Road, Kanjhawala, Mundka, Seelampur — all flooded. Sukhdev Vihar metro station was waterlogged, trapping commuters switching between road and rail.

In many areas, the water lingered for hours after the rain stopped — a damning sign of stormwater drains overwhelmed or simply defunct.

For residents, the flooding is becoming an annual nightmare with promises of a better situation that remain unfulfilled.

“Every year they promise that things will be different. Every year, we see the same scenes,” said Rohit Mehra, a Saket resident who took nearly two hours to cover what is usually a 20-minute drive.

By afternoon, Delhi Traffic Police had issued a string of advisories urging motorists to avoid the AIIMS flyover loop to South Extension, New Rohtak Road near Anand Parbat, Moolchand underpass, Azad Market underpass, GT Karnal Road and stretches of the Outer Ring Road.

Officials from PWD and other agencies maintained a studied silence through the day, barring routine statements about “heavy rainfall” and capacity of drains being affected. Yet, data from the weather office shows that Thursday’s showers, while intense, were well within the range of normal monsoon bursts that the city is expected to handle.

In the end, the rains did what they always do. They exposed not just potholes and blocked drains, but the yawning gap between civic promises and ground reality.