L-G takes note of uprooting of trees, assures redressal
new delhi: Noting that he shares the concern of every Delhiite about the maintenance of trees, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Tuesday said the government has taken a serious note of their uprooting following a storm and assured that the issue will be addressed at the earliest.
His tweet came a day after several trees were uprooted in the national capital due to heavy winds, leading to chaos on roads.
"I share the concern of every resident of Delhi about the maintenance and upkeep of trees in the City and their related uprooting and breakage that happens in the event of a storm, throwing the city traffic out of gear.
"Let me assure you that we have taken the matter seriously and will address it at the earliest," he said in a series of tweets.
Two people were killed and several injured as a fierce thunderstorm packing winds of up to 100 kmph and heavy rains battered the national capital on Monday evening, uprooting hundreds of trees, disrupting road and air traffic and damaging vehicles and buildings, including the iconic Jama Masjid.
Meanwhile, the body of a man has been fished out from a waterlogged railway underpass in southeast Delhi's Pul Prahladpur, police said, taking the death toll in Monday's thunderstorm and heavy rains in the city to three.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Esha Pandey on Tuesday said, "Around 10:22 pm on Monday, a call was received at the Pul Prahladpur police station about a person drowning in the waterlogged railway underpass." After searching the underpass for half-an-hour, divers from a rescue team fished out a man's body, aged around 45-50 years and "Kiran I Love u" tattooed on his right hand, she said.
Efforts are on to identify him, the DCP said. The Delhi Traffic Police on Tuesday said it received 352 calls related to traffic congestion and 14 calls about building or wall collapse following rains and thunderstorm in the capital a day before.
The mercury dipped in the national capital on Tuesday morning to 20.4 degrees Celsius, seven notches below normal, a day after heavy rains and a thunderstorm lashed the city.
The weather office has forecast generally cloudy skies with light rain or drizzle later in the day. Delhi recorded 18 mm rainfall in a 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Tuesday, as per data shared by the IMD.
Over 200 trees were either uprooted or damaged in the city during Monday's fierce thunderstorm while 750 workers were deployed to remove the tree debris that had blocked several roads, civic officials said on Tuesday. Lutyens' Delhi lost at least 77 trees, some of them decades old, while 58 big branches broke off and fell in Monday's fierce thunderstorm and heavy rains in the national capital, NDMC officials said.
