Delhi reels under waterlogging; AAP govt,municipal bodies spar

New Delhi:Life in various areas of Delhi virtually came to a grinding halt today as arterial roads remained waterlogged and low-lying areas along Yamuna river submerged due to incessant rains, even as AAP government and BJP-ruled civic bodies passed the buck on each other.

Traffic across the capital continued to crawl for the fourth consecutive day as streets remained flood in several localities while uprooting of trees also crippled vehicular movement in many parts of the city.

The city relatively received less rain today compared to previous few days.

“Till 5:30 PM today the city received 7.1 mm of rainfall,” a MeT department official said, adding that there are likely to be more rains in the next few days.

Several localities along Yamuna river, including Yamuna Pushta, Yamuna Vihar and adjoining areas remained flooded and authorities evacuated people to safe locations from some parts.

Over 90 waterlogging complaints were received from north Delhi including Bawana Gaushala, Nangloi, Jama Masjid, East Patel Nagar, Mori Gate, Wazirabad, Rohini, Pitampura, Paschim Vihar.

These complaints were received between 5:00 PM Saturday and 5:00 PM today, according to NDMC.

As people faced hardship due to waterlogging, Delhi government launched a blistering attack on the three BJP-ruled civic bodies for their “total failure” in desiliting drains in their localities while the opposition party put the blame on the Public Works Department (PWD).

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that Delhi has witnessed lesser waterlogging this year compared to past few years despite heavy rains lashing the national capital for the past 36 hours.

The AAP government said that they have made proper arrangements to tackle waterlogging issue across the national capital.

“…Govts continuous monitoring and intervention. Much less waterlogging than last years. We’ll keep improving,” Kejriwal today tweeted.

AAP spokesperson Ashish Khetan alleged that the municipal corporations had “totally failed” to perform their basic duties of cleaning the drains, and called them “corrupt bodies”.

Delhi has been receiving heavy rains since Friday, causing waterlogging in different parts of the national capital. Vehicular movement was affected across the city including at ITO, Vikas Marg, South Extension, Nehru Place, Yusuf Sarai Market and Munirka, among others.

Rains have also led to the traffic crawling at various major intersections such as Kashmere Gate, Dwarka, Dhaula Kuan, Moolchand, Karkarduma, Rajghat, Kalindi Kunj among others.

Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi said, “Many of these waterlogged roads for which BJP (MCD) is being blamed, actually belong to PWD, and they should be held responsible.”

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday had released a 24X7 centralised helpline [1800118595] where residents can call and register their complaints about waterlogging.

PTI