Water-logging chokes Capital

With long tailbacks of vehicles reported from major intersections and roads, South Delhi was among the worst-hit where traffic was thrown out of gear during peak hours this morning.

In South Delhi, severe water-logging was reported near AIIMS, IIT-Delhi, Ashram-DND flyway, Moolchand underpass, Jasola, Panchsheel flyover, Yusuf Sarai, Adhchini, South Extension and in several other areas on the Ring Road.

Commuters, who tried to take diversions from the arterial stretches, ended up being stranded in areas like Safdarjung Enclave, Defence Colony and Lodhi Colony, said a transport department official.

According to a senior traffic department official: “Fortunately, it was a weekend and the water accumulated on major road stretches had reduced significantly by the peak hours. Had it been a regular weekday, things would have been worse.”

Major road stretches that witnessed traffic snarls for long hours include the Ring Road stretch on both sides of Sarai Kale Khan, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Aurobindo Marg, Outer Ring Road stretch covering Hauz Khas, Greater Kailash, Nehru Place and Modi Mill, and Mathura Road, officials said.

Other parts of the city which witnessed a chock-a-block situation include Central Delhi areas like Paharganj and IP Estate; North Delhi areas like Malka Ganj, Bara Hindu Rao, Baraf Khana and Azad Market. Areas in West Delhi included Naraina and Punjabi Bagh; and near Delhi Secretariat, Vikas Marg, Nand Nagri and Anand Vihar in the East.

On the other hand, PWD Minister Satyendar Jain and senior officials of the department on Saturday said that they conducted round-the-clock field inspections to monitor the teams deployed by the department to clear the water logged at vulnerable points across the city.

According to the MeT department the Safdarjung observatory recorded 43.4 mm of rainfall while 41.66 mm of rainfall was recorded at Palam observatory till 8:30 am. The rain started at 5:30 am and it continued for about seven hours, with a maximum intensity for two hours from 8:30 to 10.30 am.

As per the PWD, they deployed 202 portable pumps at different locations from wherever the complaints of waterlogging were coming. in addition, 529 permanent pumps were installed at different locations to take care of the permanent vulnerable locations.

There were 131 mobile maintenance vans working all over Delhi on PWD roads, with 860 workers on these vans. A total of 584 complaints were received on Saturday in the PWD Flood Control Room by 1:00 pm, out of which 408 had been attended to by 1 pm itself. The clearance time of water-logging varied from 15 minutes to 1 hour.

Despite the large claims of all the three Municipal Corporations that they had completed the pre-Monsoon desilting work, it was seen that a lot of silt was coming from the municipal corporation drains, thus reducing the capacity of the PWD drains, resulting in overflowing of the drains and causing waterlogging at many places.