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Delhi floods: Residents of Civil Lines, and traders in Monastery Market count their losses
People blame the administration for not issuing a prior warning, besides complaining about a lack of aid for cleaning
Divided by the Outer Ring Road, the popular Monastery market and the relatively upscale apartments of Bela Road in Civil Lines are barely 500 metres from each other. And the devastation caused by the floods over the last week has left communities in both areas counting their losses as they engage in a silt clean-up operation.
They echo similar sentiments too — the residents blame the administration for not issuing a prior warning, besides complaining about a lack of aid for cleaning. On Tuesday, when HT visited Bela Road, people were trying to salvage whatever was left behind. Porches of houses along the street were filled with rotting eatables, damaged furniture put out to dry, and some labourers hired by residents were busy cleaning up the mess left behind.
Sanjeev Gupta, a businessman, and his wife Ekta Gupta, who live in Nitin Apartments, said that they had bought the house just two years ago. “Everything that we had gathered and built over these two years is ruined. On July 13 at 6.30am, we were woken up by a call from neighbours who warned that the water was crossing the Ring Road. Within 15 minutes, we were standing in waist-deep water,” Ekta said.
The family complained that no one from NDRF or police came to rescue them. “My father is on dialysis and mother underwent a recent operation due which she was running a risk of infection. We had to carry them in the dirty water. Their oxygen set up, medicines, our furniture, cereal stock, everything is gone. The government failed to warn us, but they can now at least help people with fumigation and fogging,” Sanjeev said, even as the workers carried out the bags of rotting cereals to be dumped.
Most of the residents in the locality have hired cleaners for their houses, while others were said to have moved to hotels for a while. On the roads, MCD workers and excavators were busy scraping off the thick layer of silt. The wall along the Outer Ring Road had also collapsed as it was inundated for three days.
Across the Outer Ring Road, somewhat similar scenes were playing out — disgruntled residents and shopkeepers were cleaning up the area in the absence of any help from the administration. The shopkeepers had stacked up their goods on raised platforms in the form of cots and tables, but the flooding in market had not spared any of the 300 outlets.
Gagandeep, a shopkeeper who sold bags and clothes, said that the market association hired private people for cleaning, as no help was provided by the administration. “We are still draining our shops. The goods are completely soaked. What will the ₹10,000 compensation do? People are being forced to spend more than that on cleaning and restoration,” he said.
Meanwhile, teams from power distribution companies were trying to restore the electricity supply even as the rear end of the market near the river was flooded. Linesman Nageshwar Singh said that all electricity metre boxes were flooded and the equipment was being replaced. “The rains have delayed the restoration work.”
On fumigation, an MCD spokesperson said it has been using power spray in flood-affected areas. “The central helpline number for MCD is 155305. The zonal helpline numbers for 12 zones have been shared on website and social media,” the spokesperson said.
The Delhi government did not respond to HT’s queries on the condition in these areas.
