Delhi: Roads turned into swimming pools, waterlogging at more than 150 places; pragati maidan tunnel closed
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Minto Bridge and Pragati Maidan Tunnel had to be closed after noon. The drainage system from PWD's pumping set failed.
The claims of all the civic agencies including Delhi Government, Municipal Corporation and NDMC were washed away in the day-long rain. During the rains, conditions like swimming pools were seen due to waterlogging from all the main roads to the street. All underpasses including Minto Bridge, Tilak Bridge, ITO, AIIMS, Pragati Maidan, Pul Prahladpur were submerged in water.
Waterlogging also troubled all the markets including Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar. By evening, water-logging was reported at more than 150 places across Delhi. Meanwhile, roads were potholed at 12 places and complaints of trees falling were received at 11 places. Due to waterlogging and closure of most of the red beacons, the drivers struggled for hours in the severe jam.
Minto Bridge Underpass and Pragati Maidan Tunnel closed
Minto Bridge and Pragati Maidan Tunnel had to be closed after noon. The drainage system from PWD's pumping set failed. The traffic here was diverted to other routes. This led to long traffic jams on nearby roads. During this time the vehicles were moving forward while crawling. The worst condition was of the bike riders.
On the other hand, reports of other water-logging and tree falling including MCD, Traffic Police, NDMC were received. According to the traffic police control room, soon after the call was received, the work of drainage and removal of trees from the roads was started in coordination with the agencies.
In the New Delhi area, trees fell on Amrita Shergil Marg, Jantar Mantar Road, Changdi Ram Akhara, DDU Marg, East Patel Nagar and Dhirpur Main Road, which were removed by late evening. On the other hand, Sun Light Colony in Lajpat Nagar, Raja Colony in Dwarka, in front of Bharat Darshan Park in Punjabi Bagh, Shadipur Metro Station and Buta Singh Street had potholes causing lot of trouble to the people.
Cleaning of drains exposed
Due to heavy rains, drains got choked at most places. The rain exposed the claims being made by agencies like Municipal Corporation, PWD and NDMC about cleaning of drains, who were claiming that 70-80 percent of their drains are clean. Civic agencies have given the work of cleaning drains on contract. The contractors are removing hardly 10 per cent silt in the name of cleaning the drains and only food supply is being done in the name of cleaning. From above, silt remained lying on the road for many days and when it rained, it again flowed into the drains. In this way, the contractors have also saved the cost of transportation of silt.
