Showers wash away de-silting claims

NEWDELHI: With many stretches of Delhi’s roads getting jammed on Monday morning due to the pre-monsoon showers, the city got a feel of what to expect in the coming weeks when the showers get heavier.

Waterlogging was witnessed on Pankha Road near Janakpuri, Delhi Cantonment, Vayusenabad, Munirka, Rao Tula Ram Marg, and Defence Colony among others, slowing down traffic even in the early morning hours. On the Outer Ring Road from Nehru Place to Chirag Dilli, a tree fell because of the rain, leading to traffic snarls on the route.

The traffic police said these jams were cleared in less than an hour as the water receded quickly. “It was not too much of a challenge for us today, but helped us understand what to expect in the coming days,” said Garima Bhatnagar, joint CP (Traffic).

She said traffic police teams were instructed to travel across the city and review the situation and preparedness to deal with waterlogging.

“They will submit their report which will help us prepare better,” she said.

Commuters who began from home early said their plans were delayed by 15-30 minutes because of the unexpected jams. “The Dwarka-CP drive which generally takes me 45 minutes at 7.30 am took an additional 30 minutes because of water logging,” said Nishant Kumar, a commuter.

COURT SEEKS REPORT

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed all the municipal corporations and the Delhi government to indicate whether the drains in the city have been desilted to ensure roads and colonies are not flooded during monsoon.

A bench of justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and justice AK Chawla took up the issue as a petition in public interest after coming across a media report which said that several sewage and storm-water drains in the city have not been de-silted.

The article also said that where de-silting has taken place, the waste or the rubble from the drains have been left on their side and not taken away to a landfill site.

The news report also carried photographs of the de-silted material lying along side the drain, the court said.

The bench issued notice to the Delhi government, the three corporations, the Delhi Jal Board and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department and sought their reply by June 28 on the PIL initiated by the court on its own.

COMMUTERS WHO BEGAN FROM HOME EARLY SAID THEIR PLANS WERE DELAYED BY 1530 MINUTES BECAUSE OF THE UNEXPECTED JAMS