Despite tall claims of the Delhi Government and the civic bodies, commuters are bearing the brunt of monsoon rains as on the fourth consecutive day of downpour on Sunday city roads saw the usual traffic snarls, mainly because of waterlogging. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Monday morning may be worse as there is high possibility of heavy rain. The Delhi Traffic Police and the civic agencies have, however, claimed to have put elaborate arrangements to tackle the expected traffic chaos on Monday peak hours.
Safdarjung observatory received 68.6 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Sunday, whereas areas under lodhi Road, Ayanagar, Ridge and Palam recorded 78.2 mm, 77.4 mm, 76.2 mm and 98.4 mm rainfall respectively.
“It depends on the amount of rain, but we will be on alert and advisories have already been issued to all traffic zones and traffic inspectors. The peak hours will be crucial,” Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chader told The Pioneer. The Delhi Police has planned heavy deployment to regulate traffic, the Special CP added.
At least four people have died and over a dozen injured in the rain-related incidents in the past three days in Delhi-NCR.
Waterlogging was reported in South Delhi, Central Delhi and East Delhi. Despite Sunday being a holiday, traffic snarls were witnessed at ITO, Vikas Marg, South Extension, Khanpur, Mahipalpur,
Hari Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Tilak Nagar, Inderpuri, IIT crossing, Nehru Place, Yusuf Sarai Market, Munirka, Daryganj and Chandani Chowk areas.
IMD has predicted, “The sky will remain cloudy and heavy rain could occur at a few places.” The maximum temperature on Sunday remained at 27 degrees Celsius. It may dip further if it rains heavily on Monday, they said.
According to a SDMC’s Central Control Room report, over four trees fell at different locations in South Delhi due to heavy rain and two buildings collapsed at Shaheen Bagh and Sangam Vihar.
Delhi received 170 mm rainfall till now in this season.
A 65-year-old farmer of Greater Noida died as house he was taking shelter caved in on Sunday morning. The deceased has been identified as Nurhashan (65) of Kalauda village of Greater Noida.
Earlier on Friday, two members of a family died while three others sustained critical injuries when a wall of an under-construction factory collapsed in Noida’s Sector 67. In some low-lying areas, rainwaters flooded the basements of flats.
Traffic crawled on major intersections such as laxmi Nagar, Kashmere Gate, Dwarka, Dhaula Kuan, Sarai Kale Khan, Moolchand, Karkarduma, Rajghat, Palam Airport, Karkardooma, Kalindi Kunj among others, traffic department official told The Pioneer.
However, the Delhi Government set up a 24/7 helpline for monsoon related woes on Friday but admitted that the problems couldn’t be solved immediately. Residents could call on helpline number 1800118595 and register their complaints about waterlogging.