Waterlogging, traffic troubles commuters as heavy rain pounds Delhi

Widespread rains across Delhi and the NCR region triggered waterlogging, delaying commuters and jamming the national capital.

Widespread rains across Delhi-NCR on Tuesday brought traffic to a crawl, disrupted Metro access at some locations, and inundating roads and, even markets, raising questions over the government’s monsoon preparedness guarantees and highlighting what a long way there is to go in ensuring the city does not flood during rainy season.

Heavy rainfall in the capital bottlenecks road and creates traffic jams on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Intense showers through the afternoon left several major roads and neighbourhoods under water within a couple of hours, with flooding reported from South Extension, Nizamuddin, RK Ashram Marg, and several stretches of the Outer Ring Road, while visuals showed flooding in areas such as Jangpura, Fatehpur Beri, Janakpuri West Metro station, and stretches between IGI Airport and Dhaula Kuan.

According to the Public Works Department (PWD), waterlogging was officially reported at ITO, Mundka, Palla, Moti Nagar, Pitampura and the Punjabi Bagh underpass.

The widespread flooding came despite repeated claims by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the PWD that record desilting had been carried out ahead of the monsoon. MCD had earlier announced that it had achieved a 118% desilting target by June 15. MCD did not release its routine monsoon report documenting instances of waterlogging on Tuesday.

PWD minister Parvesh Verma, meanwhile, shared footage from Minto Bridge, one of Delhi’s most notorious waterlogging hotspots, where traffic continued to move despite heavy rain.

“The very effort is to ensure that the monsoon remains just a season, not a trouble,” the minister said in a post on X.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) said it received 38 rain-related complaints, including 19 related to waterlogging, six tree-fall complaints, and 13 electricity-related complaints. The complaints came from Gole Market, Jor Bagh, Janpath, Connaught Place, Lodhi Colony, and Sarojini Nagar, among others.

NDMC vice-chairman Kuljeet Chahal said all complaints were attended to promptly. “Locations which were once considered major waterlogging hotspots, including Bharti Nagar, Golf Links, Ravinder Nagar and Minto Bridge, remained free from significant waterlogging,” Chahal said.

The rainfall also paralysed traffic across Delhi-NCR, with long snarls reported on NH-8 near Shankar Vihar, Mathura Road, and several arterial roads.

It triggered a political war of words.

AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj shared a video of schoolchildren being carried through waist-deep water in Sadar Bazar and accused the BJP government of failing to prepare for the monsoon.

Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra, however, defended the government’s performance, saying, “The BJP government led by Rekha Gupta has almost freed Delhi from the problem of waterlogging. Improvement is visible in 75% of Delhi today. Delhiites should remain assured that after 2027, prolonged waterlogging during the monsoon will become a thing of the past.”

Rimmi Bhatia, 45, who was travelling from west to central Delhi for work, said she remained stuck on Shivaji Marg and later on Mathura Road for more than two hours. “I eventually had to take the Metro to reach work,” she said.

The disruption also affected schoolchildren. “My daughter comes back by 2.30 pm but due to traffic, the estimated time on the school app was showing 4 pm. I decided to bring her home myself,”said Komal, 40, whose daughter studies at a central Delhi school.

The heavy rain also caused problems across Delhi University’s North Campus, where many first-year students were attending orientation programmes.

Srijan, a 20-year-old undergraduate at Hansraj College, said many freshers had arrived unprepared for the conditions.

“It was orientation day, so many students who were completely unaware of the waterlogging came unprepared. They weren’t wearing appropriate footwear, so their shoes were completely drenched. The impact wasn’t limited to the campus. Residential areas like Malkaganj and Kamla Nagar were also flooded, and hardly any e-rickshaws or autos were operating in the afternoon,” he said.

Veer Vikram Kochhar, an 18-year-old first-year English student at Hindu College, said the Metro journey to college was smooth, but returning became difficult.

“By then, the weather had worsened, and waterlogged roads made it extremely difficult to find an auto-rickshaw. My parents and I had to wait for a long time before we finally got one to reach the station,” he said.