NEW DELHI: Waterlogged roads and heavy traffic jams welcomed Delhiites on Saturday after unprecedented monsoon showers pounded the city. According to authorities, 262 waterlogging complaints were received by the Public Works Department and civic agencies till Saturday afternoon. Last month, Kejriwal had chaired a meeting to review Delhi’s drainage plan and said that a “world-class” drainage system would be developed in the city to resolve the issue of waterlogging.
The Delhi Fire Services on Saturday rescued 40 passengers of a private bus that was trapped at a waterlogged underpass here following heavy rains on Saturday morning, officials said. The passengers included women and children. The bus was going to Mathura and got stuck at the underpass of Palam flyover, officials said.
The DFS received a call seeking assistance at 11.30 am after which two fire tenders were pressed into service, they said. Atul Garg, Director, Delhi Fire Services said, “A bus with passengers onboard got trapped at an underpass of the Palam flyover due to waterlogging. Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot and all the passengers were rescued safely.”
Taking a dig at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the extensive waterlogging in Delhi after heavy rains on Saturday, BJP leader Tajinder Bagga went “rafting” on an inundated road and thanked him for making it possible in “every nook and corner” of the city.
In a video posted on Twitter, the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha asked Kejriwal to have boards put up across Delhi about his achievement. In the video, Bagga is seen sitting in a rafting boat on a submerged road in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura area.“This season, I really wanted to go to Rishikesh for rafting but I could not go due to coronavirus and repeated lockdowns. I want to thank Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ji as he has made arrangements for rafting in every nook and corner of Delhi,” the BJP leader said in the video. In another video uploaded on Twitter, children are seen swimming on a heavily waterlogged road near the MCD Civic Centre.
Social media flooded with marooned posts
According to civic agencies, several areas in the city, including Moti Bagh, RK Puram, Madhu Vihar, Hari Nagar, Rohtak Road, Badarpur, Som Vihar, Ring Road near IP Station, Vikas Marg, Sangam Vihar, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Pul Prahladpur Underpass, Munirka, Rajpur Khurd, Nangloi and Kirari, witnessed waterlogging. People posted pictures and videos of waterlogged streets on social media. The Delhi Traffic Police also posted tweets informing people about the stretches where they are expected to witness waterlogging.