Sheila cracks the whip over rain mess (Hindu 14 July 2010)

Day after: Vehicles move at a snail's pace through a water-logged Laxmi Nagar underpass after Monday's rain in New Delhi.
NEW DELHI: With one heavy shower on Monday and the resultant water-logging exposing how ill-prepared the Capital is for the rainy season despite various review meetings to oversee the preparations for de-silting of drains and removal of debris from the roads, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday admitted that “a lot of rubble was lying around'' and directed the various agencies to sort out the mess.
The Chief Minister, who earlier in the day took a round of the spots across the city which witnessed heavy water-logging that resulted in long traffic jams and later convened a high-level meeting, blamed the ongoing construction activities of different agencies like the Public Works Department, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the problem.
Ms. Dikshit said it had been announced earlier that August 10 would be the deadline for clearing all of it. “Let that date come,'' she said, adding that most of this debris was from projects related to the Commonwealth Games.
At the meeting, it was also stated that another reason for the extensive water-logging was that the drains had not been de-silted properly despite large sums of money allocated every year for the purpose.
The worst part of the water-logging was that it even took place at the underpass of the newly constructed ITO Chungi grade separator. Many vehicles broke down resulting in long traffic snarls behind.
The squall also blew away portions of the roof of the under-construction table tennis stadium at the Yamuna Sports Complex in the trans-Yamuna area.
With the Games just two months away, the Chief Minister directed all the civic agencies to undertake improvement work on the drainage system and repair the roads damaged by the rains on priority.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta has demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister for the sorry state of affairs in the city in the wake of the season's heaviest rainfall which claimed 11 lives.