Heavy rain causes waterlogging, traffic snarls in Delhi

New Delhi, August 31: Heavy rain on Wednesday morning caused waterlogging and traffic snarls in many areas of the national capital.
Officials told IANS the situation improved by the afternoon.
“Traffic issues were solved by evening but areas like Azadpur and other places saw traffic congestion due to the peak hours,” an official of the traffic department said.
Officials said they received over 100 calls regarding traffic snarls and waterlogging in the morning.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in the national capital, cancelled his visit to the holy places on Wednesday. His visit to IIT-Delhi was also delayed due to torrential rains. At IIT-D, Kerry started his lecture with a light-hearted comment: “I don’t know if you came in boats or amphibious vehicle of some kind.”
The rain, however, made the weather pleasant. The maximum temperature on Wednesday was 30.4 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season’s average. The minimum temperature settled at 26 degrees Celsius.
However, commuters had a tough time in the morning rush hours, reaching their destinations.
Bhanu Srivastava, an engineer, told IANS that most of the roads leading to Noida from Delhi were flooded and there was a gridlock of vehicles on the roads.“As lovely as the pouring rain looks from the office or house window, one can only imagine the plight of people on the road,” Nandia Kodesia tweeted.
“Morning bliss with Delhi rains but will have to deal with traffic jam later,” Arpit Gupta tweeted.
Traffic snarls were also witnessed on roads leading to Gurgaon and the airport. Places affected by massive traffic congestion included Moti Bagh, Wazirabad, Pragati Maidan, Azad Market, the stretch between IIT-Delhi and Munirka, Chirag Dilli, Punjabi Bagh, Karol Bagh, Dwarka, Shastri Park, Seelampur, Ghazipur, Najafgarh, Nangloi-Mundka road, Dhaula Kuan flyover, Greater Kailash II market, Zakir Hussain Marg, Barapulla flyover towards DND, Ashram Chowk, Ring Road at Maharani Bagh, Lajpat Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan.
The Met Office said Safdarjung recorded the maximum rainfall of 63.1 mm followed by 58.4 mm at Lodhi Road, 55.6 mm at Palam area, 48.6 mm at Ridge area and 34.8 mm at Aya Nagar between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.
“Moderate rainfall is expected on Thursday as well,” an official of the India Meteorological Department said.
The maximum temperature on Thursday is expected to hover around 31 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 25 degrees Celsius.

HC raps PWD, civic bodies over water-logging

Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Public Works Department (PWD) and civic agencies on the water-logging situation in the national capital, saying “we cannot tolerate this year after year”.
Hearing the matter relating to water-logging in South Extension area of south Delhi, the bench said there is “no justification for clogged drains”.
It also observed that pools of water collected on roads after the rain due to poor drainage were leading to the spread of diseases like dengue and Chikungunya.
On Wednesday, the national capital came to a standstill due to water-logging after three hours of heavy rain.
The PWD falls under the Delhi Government and civic bodies, including three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs), are BJP-ruled. PWD Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier criticised MCDs for not functioning properly.
The PWD later held the silt flowing from MCD drains to PWD drains as one of the major causes of water-logging.
PWD said they had received 230 complaints and the issues were resolved within 30-40 minutes.
“It was again observed that problem of water-logging at many locations occurred again due to flow of silt and sludge from MCD drains upstream of PWD drains which is contrary to the claims made by all the three municipal corporations about desilting of their drains,” PWD said in a statement, adding that it deployed a total of 825 pumps and 1,078 workmen to deal with water-logging problems.