NEW DELHI: The roads continued to look like small-size lakes for the second consecutive day as heavy rain on Tuesday exposed the capital’s fragile drainage and traffic infrastructure, with several key roads, underpasses, markets and residential colonies inundated.
At the Kishanganj underpass, vehicles were seen struggling to move through the accumulated water, resulting in bottleneck. Two trucks remained stuck for a very long time there, causing traffic jams. In Mahipalpur, water covered large portions of the road, forcing schoolchildren to walk hand-in-hand as they negotiated the flooded stretch.
Outside Safdarjung Hospital, severe waterlogging made vehicular movement difficult, while the road outside AIIMS was in an equally poor condition. The stretch outside RML Hospital, the airport road remained waterlogged, adding to misery of commuters.
The situation was no better in central Delhi. Videos from outside the new Parliament building showed a significant portion of the road submerged. Waterlogging was also reported at Zakhira Underpass, Connaught Place, Sadar Bazaar and Kamla Nagar.
Azad Market in particular was badly affected, with large parts of the market under water and shops remaining shut. On Baba Kharak Singh Marg, footpaths were submerged, leaving pedestrians with little space to walk. Several colonies in Karol Bagh were also affected. Hanuman Temple, Shivaji Stadium Metro station and parts of Moti Bagh witnessed the same chaos.
The morning rush hour turned into a nightmare for office-goers and students. Commuters travelling between Delhi to Noida reported journeys of one-and-a-half hours. The school buses were also delayed. For parents, the disruption was more than an inconvenience; it meant hours of uncertainty.
“My child usually reaches home by 1 pm, but today he was delayed by nearly an hour. The bus got stuck in Trilokpuri because the roads were flooded, and we had no clear information about when it would move,” said a parent from IP Extension, Sampada Jain.
NDMC Chairman Manok Kumar, speaking to the media on Tuesday, said waterlogging had been reported near Minto Bridge, Laxmi Nagar and several other areas, and the officials are working on it.
In February this year, the PWD minister Parvesh Verma had warned that officials would face suspension if any part of the capital experienced waterlogging this monsoon.
Plaints to civic body
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi received three complaints of trees falling between 2 pm and 6 pm on Tuesday from Patel Nagar, Sector 7 in Rohini and Krishna Nagar. Four waterlogging complaints were also received during the two corresponding periods.
