NEW DELHI: Four people lost lives, houses at a slum in central Delhi collapsed, traffic crawled and rainwater inundated low-lying areas after the national capital received its first spell of heavy showers on Sunday. Like previous years, the road under Minto Bridge turned into a pool of rainwater which claimed the life of a man from Uttarakhand. The victim, a goods carrier driver, is said to have drowned after his vehicle got stuck in the waterlogged underpass.
A DTC bus and two auto-rickshaws also got stuck at the spot following which fire brigade personnel rescued the people on board. The body of the victim, Kundan Kumar from Pithoragarh, was noticed by a trackman who works at New Delhi station’s rail yard. As per officials, Kumar was driving from New Delhi Railway Station towards Connaught Place this morning. “He tried to manoeuvre his vehicle through water logged underpass, but couldn’t succeed.
It seems he died of drowning. No external injury marks on the person,” said a senior police officer.
Water-logging at Minto Bridge underpass was drained out by 1.00pm by the Public Work Department. “The underpass is situated in a very low-lying area, much below normal height and altitude, making it vulnerable to frequent flooding. Pumps and drains in that area are very old, which makes it difficult to drain out rainwater even after desilting. Other major reasons for water logging at Minto Road or any other place is due to the non-separation of road drains and other residential, industrial drains,” said a senior PWD official.
Soon, a blame game began on Twitter over whether PWD or MCD is to be held responsible for the mess. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had to intervene to end the slugfest. “This year all agencies, be it of Delhi Government or MCD, is working and deployed in Corona duty. There are many obstacles due to Covid. It is not the time is not to blame each other. We need to work together,” he tweeted. While a man died of electrocution in Jahangirpuri area, an eight-year-old boy drowned in Chhatt Ghat at South East Delhi’s Saurabh Vihar, the police said.
At Gandhi Camp in Sriniwaspuri, the police received a PCR call that a person fell into rainwater that had accumulated at the spot. Doctors announced him brought dead. “The cause of death is not clear so far. It will be known only after autopsy at AIIMS.” At Anna Colony near ITO intersection, about seven houses caved in when a canal running through the slum overflowed following heavy rains. “The slums were kaccha clusters constructed on roadside by labourers working in the nearby construction sites. No casualty was reported and all the slum dwellers were rescued,” said senior Delhi police official.
Lodhi Road, Defence Colony, Safdurjung, Jor Bagh, Ashram, and Modi Mill area went down under knee deep water. Barakhamba Rao in central Delhi saw waterlogging, especially under Ranjeet Singh flyover. Vehicles coming from Laxmi Nagar was diverted towards Rajaram Kohli Marg or Akshardham side. Traffic crawled at South Avenue, Vinay Marg, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg under railway bridge, Dhuala Kuan, New Delhi Railway Station, Minto Road, Guru Nanak Chowk, Azad Market Railway Bridge, Moolchand underpass, Modi Mill, Pul Prahaladpur and Prembadi.
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