Not Mumbai, it's Delhi

Even as Delhi came down on its knees, drenched and hassled, it did not stop the authorities from indulging in a blame game. A report by Nivedita Khandekar and Karan Choudhary. Nightmare for commuters | With rains, came jams

Even as Delhi came down on its knees, drenched and hassled, it did not stop the authorities from indulging in a blame game.

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Possibly the worst affected by Friday’s rains was the Valley Point of ITO bridge and the Ring Road near IGI Stadium as the entire carriageway was entirely submerged, leading to the worst kind of jam. The peak-hour traffic in the morning suffered several times over with the congestion/jam continuing well past noon.

Like near the ITO bridge (also called IP Flyover), there was waterlogging at Moolchand underpass, below Mayapuri flyover and Dhaula Kuan grade separator.

Incomplete de-silting of drains and poor road condition were the main reasons. While, construction activity, potholed roads and non-functional signals were among other reasons that aggravated the problem resulting in entire city crawling till around 2 pm.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi Traffic Police deployed their respective vehicles at several places to pump out water from waterlogged stretches on the road. Several vehicles broke down as they waded through almost knee-deep water, which resulted in pile up of vehicles on several roads.

The blame game

The traffic officials claimed the civic bodies are responsible for the waterlogging. In turn, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) blamed the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Delhi government and other agencies like the Flood Control Department for their inaction.

Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta said, “It is surprising that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has blamed the MCD for waterlogging. Delhi Government and its agencies are primarily responsible for waterlogging.”

The other agency that was at the receiving end of MCD’s ire was Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for area near Janakpuri (West) metro station. Recently the MCD had ordered a vigilance enquiry into the reasons for waterlogging in the Capital.