Delhi goes the Mumbai way

The dangerous level to which the Yamuna rose on Wednesday resulted in chaos on Ring Road, the major lifeline of the Capital. HT reports.

The dangerous level to which the Yamuna rose on Wednesday resulted in chaos on Ring Road, the major lifeline of the Capital.

HT Image

Traffic came to a standstill as vehicles and commuters made their way through waist-deep water, with some people slipping and falling in the dirty water.

Water logging virtually cut off the Ring Road and restricted vehicular movement on important roads between IP Flyover and Raj Ghat, roads in East Delhi including IP Estate and Nizamuddin Bridge. The traffic police were also forced to close the Old Yamuna iron bridge.

Ajay Chadha, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said, "We were left with no choice but to divert the traffic to safer roads even if these were already heavily clogged with vehicular traffic and caused huge inconvenience to the commuters."

He said all the drains were choked with the water level of the Yamuna refusing to ebb.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government closed the floodgates of 17 drains that open into the Yamuna. The civic authorities were worried that this could lead to drain water flowing back into the city, causing health hazards apart from water logging.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of the MCD's Standing Committee where councillors expressed concern with the closing of the drains. But MCD Commissioner K.S. Mehra assured that closing of gates was a "routine exercise" to ensure that water from Yamuna does not flow into the city.

"At all the 17 points, pumps have been installed and excess water from the drains are being pumped into the river. So there is no fear of overflowing of drains within the city," he assured.

Traffic also was diverted at Rajghat crossing towards Delhi Gate due to water logging. Commuters were forced to abandon buses and walk in the rain and slush on muddy, dug-up roads because of the construction work.

Traffic flow was also affected near the Britannia Underpass, Azadpur Mandi, ITO to Vikas Marg, Mathura Road to Purana Quila Road, Ajmeri Bazar to Chawri Bazar, New Rohtak Road, Anand Parvat, Bahdur Shah Zafar Marg, Ganesh Nagar Chowk, Qutub Minar Metro station, Minto Road Underpass, etc.