A year ago, the capital witnessed one of its worst flood situations after heavy rains lashed the city. The Yamuna, swollen after heavy showers in its upper catchment area, came to inundate extensive stretches of its floodlands (now, densely populated areas due to relentless urbanisation and encroachment) in the national capital.
Thus, the excess rainwater, which would be otherwise drained into the river, stood stagnant on city streets, chest-deep water turning bustling thoroughfares into putrid swamps. Nearly 25,000 people living in severely flooded areas were forced into relief camps. In the aftermath of the deluge, just like after any event of public distress, civic agencies in the capital vowed to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
Then, in the early hours of June 28, the rains came down again. The first day of heavy rains this season, the city received one-third of its total monsoon rainfall (Delhi receives nearly 650 mm rainfall in the entire season) within a span of few hours, recording 228.1 mm of rainfall, highest for the month of June since 1936.
In the wake of what weather experts termed an extreme weather event, Delhi residents woke up to heavily waterlogged streets. The city came to a standstill. Commuters armed with umbrellas, their pants rolled up to the knees, grumbled as they waded through stagnant water, cursing the municipal authorities as the water grazed their thighs.
“My car was completely submerged,” Vasant Vihar resident Nitesh Rathi described, still in shock. “I couldn’t book a cab online; no option but to walk to the nearest metro station. After desperately trying to get their past flooded streets, for what felt like hours, I had to give up,” the office-goer complained. The situation was dire at the New Delhi Railway Station; passengers were forced to draw their luggage through flooded roads leading to the station. Waterlogging was reported at various metro stations, adding to commuter woes.
What went wrong?
Friday’s downpour and the subsequent waterlogging across the city opened our eyes to a significant civic issue – desilting of drains, swept under the carpets by public and governmental amnesia since last year’s flooding. Residents complained of drains clogged with debris, sludge and waste, refusing to allow standing water to be let out.
“It’s the same story year after year. As soon as there is heavy rainfall, the drains get clogged and streets turn into rivers. I have given up all hope in the authorities,” said Shreya Singhal, resident of Green Park; an affluent locality (otherwise unconcerned about civic woes) that remained submerged for hours following the Friday downpour.
MCD officials said only 290 of the 713 drains managed by it had been disilted before the rains came crashing on Friday. Despite this, the MCD reported that over 73,404 tonnes of silt had been removed from these drains, 94% of the target of 78,062 tonnes set for this year. The MCD initially set a deadline of May 30 for desilting its drains; the deadline was loosened to June 15, before it was further extended to June 30. Despite extensions, more than half of the work remains incomplete. MCD officials cited various reasons for the failure to desilt drains, including the need for collaboration with other agencies and the difficulty posed by covered drains and encroachments.
Meanwhile, NDMC officials highlighted several technical failures contributing to the waterlogging. At Minto Road, waterlogging was exacerbated due to malfunctioning pumps managed by the PWD, under the Delhi government. Similarly, in Lodhi Colony and Golf Links, the Khushak Nala pumps, also under PWD management, malfunctioned, leading to significant water accumulation. The situation worsened in areas where NDMC and MCD jurisdictions overlap due to non-operational PWD pumps, causing backflow and water inflow from surrounding regions like Paharganj into NDMC areas.
NDMC vice-chairman Satish Upadhyay criticized the Delhi government for lack of preparedness and timely action, deeming their monsoon response inadequate. While he noted that the rainfall was unprecedented, he also stressed upon the need for proactive measures to prevent such incidents in future. According to Delhi government figures, out of the 713 drains, only an estimated 200 were cleared of silt prior to the deluge; leading to backflow into the NDMC areas, he claimed.
“This is first government that fails to govern effectively. Instead of addressing the problem, they are only engaged in blame games. If the Delhi government had cleaned all their drains on time, NDMC would not have faced such severe backflow issues,” Upadhyay said, squarely blaming the city administration for the flood-like situation. Additionally, he announced formation of a high-level committee to review the recent waterlogging incidents and develop strategies to mitigate similar situations during the monsoon.
However, it is a point of contention whether civic agencies can shirk off the blame. Agencies were also visibly unprepared to contain the situation despite an increase in waterlogging-prone hotspots. Nearly 100 locations that are vulnerable to waterlogging were identified by the authorities across the city till 2022. In a couple of years, the waterlogging-prone areas scaled up to 300, with the identification of at least 100 new sites each year in 2023 and 2024, officials privy to the matter said. Despite such intelligence, preparations for flood control in these areas begins too late, usually after the first bout of serious showers which unsurprisingly ushers in severe civic woes in the city.
Unplanned urbanisation is another significant factor contributing to the failure to mitigate such disasters. Large parts of Delhi is unplanned, every corner lined with concrete, disallowing the rainwater to seep into the ground and causing it to accumulate on the surface, and eventually waterlogging. While speaking at a disaster management session of IP University last year, L-G VK Saxena, had noted that over 50% of the city is unplanned, leaving little to no room for water to soak into the land.
The city also lacks an overall drainage master plan. The last drainage master plan was drafted by the Delhi administration in 1976. Delhi was administered by a metropolitan council between 1966 and 1990. In 2016, the Delhi government commissioned a study of the city’s drainage system by IIT Delhi. Following the study, a drainage master plan was compiled which pointed out that the city had no single agency to manage and maintain its drainage system. However, the plan is yet to be implemented.
Lack of inter-departmental coordination is yet another factor aggravating the inconvenience of citizens. According to the Delhi government’s Irrigation and Flood Control Department, “A flood control order, giving contingency plans to meet any severe floods in Yamuna, is issued every year prior to the onset of monsoons.” The order also issues modalities for setting up a central control room which functions from “June 15 to October 15, or till the withdrawal of the monsoon.” It also directs the delegation of duties to different committees comprised of all civics agencies and concerned departments of the city government. However, this crucial order was not issued till the city received its first tranche of the monsoon on June 28.
Blame-game continues
Part and parcel to every crisis that emerges, waterlagging in the city, too, elicited political jibes and flurry of accusations. The L-G, Delhi government and opposition parties traded barbs over the civic disorder following the Friday rains. Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor attacked Mayor Shelly Oberoi and the city government, asserting that despite prior warnings from the weather department, the Mayor’s claims of preparedness proved false as water pumps failed at key locations.
Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav blamed the AAP government’s handling of water management and desilting following heavy monsoon showers. Yadav called for an investigation into the “massive corruption” in the desilting process. He also pointed out the irony of water minister Atishi’s residence being waterlogged after her recent demands (culminating in a hunger strike) for more water from Haryana amid severe water shortages during the prolonged heatwave.
L-G VK Saxena observed that despite the monsoon reaching Delhi, desilting of drains was yet to be completed and the annual flood control order, containing details of roads, vulnerable locations and control rooms of various departments, was yet to be issued. “It is shocking that the flood control order… that should have been issued by June 15 are yet pending,” Saxena said.
Way forward
Both Delhi government and the L-G swung into action to salvage the situation. Saxena issued instructions to set up a 24x7 emergency control room where senior officials from all departments concerned should be deputed. AAP government also issued similar directions and said senior PWD officials, along with officers of other stakeholder departments, would be deployed in the control room to monitor waterlogging. Saxena also convened an emergency meeting of all concerned agencies to review the situation in the city due to waterlogging, overflow of silted drains and backflow in clogged sewer lines in the wake of monsoon rains.