It’s the same old story in Delhi every year. Heavy rains accompanied with waist-deep water logging in some parts and hours-long exhausting traffic jams on almost all roads of national capital. Thursday was no different. If the previous highlight of the monsoon season was Minto Road Bridge where chest-high water led to one individual’s death, the problem area this Thursday was Prahladpur bridge.
The sight there was pathetic. Three busses and at least two backhoe loaders were seen struggling in waist deep water. This came after multiple assurances from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that all drains in the national capital had been cleared after the previous month incident.
“I’ve been living in this area since the day I was born. This is the state of the road and underpass every year. Water from all the nearby drains also flows downhill into this spot and this is the spectacle I’m used to seeing. It’s simply national news because a person lost his life in CP,” said Sahajanand, a resident of Tughlakabad who uses the Prahladpur underpass on a daily basis.
The Thursday deluge helped the city meet rain deficiency for the monsoon season, the lowest in 10 years. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Aya Nagar weather station recorded 99.2 mm rainfall, the maximum in the city, till 8.30 am. The Palam and Ridge weather stations gauged 93.6 mm and 84.6 mm precipitation respectively. The Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 68 mm rainfall, according to the IMD.
The tale of water logging woes was not restricted to one area but of many other low-lying areas in the national capital. New Delhi Railway Station, an underpass in Dwarka, Raja Garden and Mayapuri also reported inundation.
“How will we travel? Our jobs are already at risk thanks to the Coronavirus and now we can’t reach work also. Is this some kind of a joke? This is supposed to be the national capital of a booming economy,” said Lovedeep, a manager working in Gurgaon who had been stuck on the Delhi-Gurgaon border for over 1.5 hours.
The added security layers in the city because of the Independence Day celebrations also led to tighter bottlenecks in the city. “There needs to be coordination among authorities somewhere. This ITO four-way road is usually a very harrowing commute, add to that the rains and now the barricading by Delhi Police. At least thankfully offices have allowed us to work from home and I have already logged in with my laptop but now my car is stuck in this place. Even though we mostly work from home we have to go to the office at least thrice in two weeks. I had to choose this day,” said Shivoy, who rued his decision to go to office on Thursday.
The Independence Day celebrations are to be held at Red Fort like every year full dress rehearsal took place Thursday morning. This led to few of the roads in the capital being blocked and the morning diversions at least kept the Chandni Chowk area clear but there was chaos in the evening. Traffic as well as the redevelopment of nearby areas led to the Old Delhi area turning into a kind of swamp.
“We’re used to this. It’s not a new story. Everyone knows and now they have a legitimate reason for this saying that construction is taking place. Hopefully things get better after it’s all beautified,” said a local shopkeeper. Delhi PWD Minister Satyendra Jain and MCD officials remained unavailable for comment.
