Water woes, No shade to no fans hide under

As traffic policeman Balendra Singh wipes his sweaty face with a drenched kerchief at the intersection at ITO on a hot Monday afternoon, four schoolboys approach him for water. He walks them to a traffic booth nearby and gives them a bottle of hot water from a nearly-empty jar.

“We will have to arrange more water from somewhere. A can doesn’t last us a day in this heat. To top it, the water turns hot within minutes,” says Singh.

But the summer problems for the traffic police personnel out on Delhi’s roads do not end with water. Those fortunate to be deployed near traffic booths do not have even a basic fan to beat the heat. “We use our kerchiefs to keep ourselves dry. We hope the motorists will understand and maintain discipline,” says traffic cop, Ravinder Kumar.

In areas where the PCR vans are mostly immobile, another van visits them from time to time to refill their jars. SHIV SUNNY

Bhupender and his other auto driver friends, visiting temples and gurdwaras is a routine affair.

They visit at least two such places in a day — not because they are religious, but because they get to drink chilled water for free and also get to fill their empty bottles.

“The day gets better for us when different groups distribute sweetened water on roadsides across the city on particular days. Today (Monday) was one such day,” Bhupender said.

With temperatures nearly touching 45 degrees, life is getting tougher for those who have to remain on the roads for 8-12 hours at a stretch for work. Yet, auto-rickshaw and non-AC bus drivers – all are finding some way or the other to beat the heat.

The story of the non-AC bus drivers of DTC and DIMTS, who have to be behind the wheels for eight hours, is no different. Chaman Lal, driver of bus number 615, said he keeps a wet cloth to wipe his face and neck every now and then. SWETA GOSWAMI