New Delhi, July 28 (Inditop.com) The Delhi government’s claims of making the national capital a world class city before Commonwealth Games 2010 lay hollow as thousands of commuters struggled late Monday amid the heavy downpour leading to water logging and huge traffic snarls. However, as before, various government departments blamed one another.
Despite a sum of Rs.200 million being spent for desilting 1,500 drains across the city ahead of the monsoons, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was hard pressed for an explanation as almost all roads were waterlogged Monday, and key underpasses remained flooded Tuesday morning.
The city’s mayor Kanwar Sain simply apologised to residents for the harrowing time they faced and assured them things would be back to normal soon.
“We have made all arrangements to see the city was prepared for the monsoons. But problems increased following construction work of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi Jal Board, Public Works Department (PWD) in various parts of the capital. I am personally looking after the clearing-up process and things will be normal in the next three hours,” Sain told IANS late Tuesday morning.
But much after the rains had subsided, there were still serpentine queues in many parts of the city including Minto Road, Palam, Dwarka, Badarpur, Moolchand, Nehru Place and Patel Nagar as commuters braving waterlogged roads struggled to reach their workplaces Tuesday.
Sain further said he had written letters to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Police, Delhi Government and the DMRC to ensure that areas under their control were cleared of rainwater soon.
“It is true that drains in some areas were blocked and we are trying to fix the problem,” admitted Sain.
“If the downpour for four hours showed up the civic authorities’ total unpreparedness what would happen if we had a regular monsoon?” queried Anuj Singh, a scientist, who was stuck for five hours on the road connecting Delhi to Noida.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit, probably realising that she would be in the firing line after the rains virtually paralysed the city, evaded the media at a function and left quietly from the back door.
“People must welcome the rains,” was all that Dikshit said, refusing to take any other questions.
The Delhi Police on their part refused to accept responsibility for the faulty traffic signals, which in many places went kaput, leading to chaos on the roads and a free-for -all that caused even more disorder.
Joint Commissioner (Traffic) S.N. Shrivastava told IANS: “Why are people blaming traffic cops? What can we do when the entire road is submerged under water and has developed potholes? I along with my team were manning the traffic till 2 a.m., completely drenched.”
“I can only advise people that when it is raining they need to exercise patience and follow traffic rules to avoid hold-ups. The problem arose especially in central Delhi as traffic came head on leading to chaos.”
When asked about who was to be blamed for the problem, Shrivastava said: “All stakeholders in the city should play an active role and look into the matter, for we are preparing to hold the Commonwealth Games.”
