Rain brings Delhi to its knees again
After bouts of rain throughout Monday, knee-deep water on roads held up traffic for long stretches, exposing the tall claims of civic bodies of having completed desilting of drains.
After bouts of rain throughout Monday, knee-deep water on roads held up traffic for long stretches, exposing the tall claims of civic bodies of having completed desilting of drains.
Throughout this monsoon, commuters have been stuck in waterlogged roads every time it rained. Monday was no different.
Delhi received 21.6 mm of rainfall in short spells. There was heavy rain between 4.30pm and 8.30 pm.
Area around South Extension, Ring Road, Defence Colony, Moolchand, Maharani Bagh, Moti Bagh, parts around Dhaula Kuan, Rao Tula Ram Marg, Rajouri Garden, Palam, Dabri, and Akshardham were flooded. All the stretches witnessed heavy traffic jams.
The Delhi Traffic Police attributed the seasonal jams to improper desilting of roads, despite repeated reminders to civic agencies.
“Our job is only to remind the authorities concerned, but we cannot do their jobs. We start writing reminder letters to all the authorities whose areas are likely to be flooded during monsoons, but every year the roads face the same fate. It is not only difficult for the commuters but it is also difficult for our teams to man traffic in knee-deep water,” said a senior traffic official.
The civic agencies, however, continued to pass the buck.
“All our roads have been completely desilted. There are roads under other agencies which might not have been desilted properly. We had set strict deadlines for our officials, so that commuters do not face a tough time during monsoon,” said North Delhi Municipal Corporation standing committee deputy chairperson, Rajesh Bhatia.
VIP arrangements around central Delhi for the visit of Myanmar president, Htin Kyaw, worsened commuter woes.
Traffic snarls started around 10 am as stretches around Rajghat, Sardar Patel Marg, Teen Murti Marg, Ashoka Road, Akbar Road, Race Course Road, and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road were partly closed to traffic.
Many commuters complained it took them around an hour to complete a two-kilometre journey in the evening.
