“A little rain in Delhi and the roads have turned into a swimming pool,” the AAP quipped.
Overnight rain in Delhi-NCR has thrown normal life out of gear, leading to severe waterlogging and long traffic snarls in several areas on Thursday.
Videos of flooded underpasses, submerged vehicles and people stranded in above-waist level water have surfaced on social media. Roads in Delhi’s ITO, where the Public Works Department office is located, were waterlogged following the downpour.
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The Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was quick to take a dig at PWD Minister Parvesh Verma, sharing a video of the submerged road.
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“This is the same area of Delhi where the PWD office is located, and its minister, Pravesh Verma ji, was claiming that no matter how much it rains, there will be no waterlogging anywhere in Delhi,” the AAP said in a post.
In Patparganj, roads near the flyover were completely inundated. A video shared by the AAP showed vehicles submerged and people in neck-deep waters.
“A little rain in Delhi and the roads have turned into a swimming pool,” the AAP quipped.
The Opposition party said that the BJP-led Delhi government’s claim of freedom from waterlogging turned out to be a “jumla” (gimmick).
“The Chief Minister and PWD Minister’s claim of freedom from waterlogging turned out to be a mere gimmick. The entire Delhi is so submerged in water that somewhere an ambulance carrying a patient got stuck in a ditch, and at another place a car. Now the public has started saying — In 4 months, Delhi has been ruined ever since the disaster government came to power,” the AAP said.
Several other areas, including Nehru Place, Aurobindo Marg, Kailash Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Siri Fort Road, Chirag Dilli flyover, Outer Ring Road, G.K. Marg, Rail Bhawan, Akshardham, Ashram, also reported severe waterlogging and traffic disruptions.
While Safdarjung recorded just 1.4 mm of rainfall between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., several other parts of National Capital also recieved heavy downpour. Najafgarh received the highest at 60 mm rain, followed by Ayanagar (50.5 mm), Pragati Maidan (37 mm), Pusa (30 mm), and North Campus (22 mm).
The situation in nearby Gurugram was no better. The city in BJP-ruled Haryana recieved over 140 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue an Orange Alert for the region.
Roads turned into rivers and vehicles were submerged, promting severe criticism over the lack of basic infrastructure.
Sharing a video of a waterlogged Sheetla Mata Road, Gurugram journalist Sumedha Sharma wrote, “This is Sheetla Mata road and was best Venice channel of #Gurugram #Gurgaon last night. The road has had most revamp plans and hundreds of crores have been spent on it. Interestingly while swanky street lamps have been Installed, drainage failed to find a place on priority list.”
“Apartments were recently sold for ₹100 crores here, and the area doesn’t even have a proper drainage system,” said an X user.
“Millennial city with this kind of drainage system ! Where are the taxes going ? They are going down the drain where ideally the rain water should go,” wrote another.
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