Delhi rains: Claims of de-silting fall flat as city gets submerged again

Delhi rains: Days after the death of three civil services aspirants due to waterlogging in Old Rajinder Nagar, two people drowned to death on a street in Ghazipur on Wednesday after parts of Delhi were once again inundated with water due to torrential rain.

In the incident at Ghazipur, a female resident of Khora Colony in Noida and her child fell into a drain which was under construction by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Both were taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where they were declared dead. According to officials, the drain is about 12 feet deep and runs from Khora Chowk to Mayur Vihar Phase-3. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) blamed DDA for the deaths stating that it was under their jurisdiction.

Also read: Delhi Rains: Incident hit Old Rajinder Nagar flooded again after fresh spell of rain

The DDA has, however, clarified that out of the total length of the drain of 1,350 metres, 1,000 metres alongside the adjoining road had been brought under the jurisdiction of MCD. The remaining 350 metres are under DDA.

“The de-silting of the 350-metre section of the drain under DDA’s jurisdiction was completed recently, and this section was subsequently covered with RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) slabs. Additionally, a screen was installed at the junction point of the MCD and DDA sections of the drain to prevent the flow of garbage into the drain,” officials from the DDA added.

The bodies of the deceased were found 500 metres upstream at the junction point of the drain.

Lack of planning

The recent rains have exposed the hollowness of claims of de-silting by multiple authorities including MCD, Flood and Irrigation Control Department (F&IC Dept), and the Public Works Department (PWD).

The meetings chaired by the Delhi Government ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena and other senior officials to tackle the water-logging problem did not seem to bear any fruit on the ground and the action plan along with steps taken by the authorities remains only on paper.

The ground reality is very different as the roads and streets of the national capital turned into a river after the city received 108 mm rainfall in the time span of 12 hours from 8:30 pm on July 31 to 8:30 am on August 1, 2024, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The MCD had claimed that they have desilted the drains of Old Rajinder Nagar after the three students died on July 27 due to waterlogging. Despite these claims, the locality was flooded again after the heavy rainfall and the students could be seen shouting slogans standing in knee-deep water on Wednesday evening.

“We have removed the ramps which were encroaching over the drains at Old Rajinder Nagar, and we have also desilted the drains and removed excess water,” an MCD official had claimed.

The ITO crossing, a prime location in Central Delhi, was also flooded after the rainfall. People were seen standing submerged at the red light waiting for the jam to get cleared.

Also read: Delhi gets respite from scorching heat with heavy rainfall

Ironically, the road outside the PWD headquarters – the department which is responsible for managing 55% of the total drains in Delhi — was inundated. Cars and buses were submerged. The owners of two-wheelers were seen dragging their vehicles through the water.

Greater Kailash (GK), the posh area of South Delhi, was also flooded. The main road of GK-1 was inundated along with the ‘W’ Block. The whole area was jam-packed on Wednesday evening due to severe waterlogging that resulted in the breakdown of several cars in the middle of the road.

Furthermore, the Lajpat-Jangpura flyover was flooded, and the Pragati Maidan underpass was again closed by the police. The road outside the High Court was also inundated. Bhairav Marg was waterlogged. Krishna Nagar in east Delhi, which is managed by the MCD, was also flooded.

Speaking to Patriot, Varun Maheshwari, a lawyer by profession, recalled the scary experience he had on Wednesday evening while heading back home from work.

“On a regular day, it takes 40-45 minutes for me to reach home, but due to the torrential rain, the streets were clogged with traffic. The roads were flooded. I left office at 8 pm and got stuck in traffic for three hours. I reached home at 11 pm.

“No work has been done by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital. They just give away freebies at the cost of lives in the city. No proper sanitation, cleanliness, desilting of drains is being done by AAP. They just start passing the buck on others as soon as something happens in the Capital. This is just pathetic. Delhi is not in a condition where one can live peacefully,” Maheshwari added.