Water still on roads, minister says things better than last year (Indian Express 14 July 2010)

While PWD Minister Rajkumar Chauhan claims water-logging was far less this year as compared to that after last year’s deluge, the traffic police will beg to differ. On Monday night, the traffic police was forced to call reserve forces to help clear traffic on Ring Road.
To make matters worse, even Delhi’s showpiece Lutyens’ Zone ended up under water after Monday’s deluge. “The road in front of Shanti Van was submerged. The entire Ring Road got clogged because of water-logging. We had to call for a platoon of reserve force to manage the traffic,” said Joint Commissioner Traffic Satyendera Garg. The traffic finally cleared on this stretch by 1.30 am.
After an inspection of the streetscaping work, Chauhan, meanwhile, said water-logging this year was far less compared to last year. “I have visited several streetscaping projects. Fewer incidents of water-logging were reported this time around. Along with the Chief Minister, I also visited Ring Road Bypass and I believe that once the project is complete traffic on Ring Road will ease up,” Chauhan told reporters.
Government employee C K Singh might hope this happens soon. “I left Delhi Secretariat at 7.30 pm, but reached home in Rohini at midnight. I was stuck all along on Ring Road. Even the divider was under water,” he said.
The clover leaf road of IP flyover was also flooded, adding to the pressure on Ring Road. The traffic jam here affected ITO intersection and the trail went on till Mandi House. On the other side, the Gol Dak Khana post office roundabout was also flooded. The traffic police claim this was due to the ongoing construction work by DMRC on Baba Kharak Singh Road, which accentuated the problem. Water-logging here affected traffic on Ashoka Road, Parliament Street and even Connaught Place were affected.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also accepted that debris strewn on the road due to ongoing construction works is a cause for water-logging. “We have asked the agencies to clear debris by August 10. But yesterday’s traffic jams were due to unusual rain,” she said.
All is well, says MCDEven as the traffic police got complaints of water-logging from Dhaula Kuan underpass, IP Flyover and the new ITO Chungi, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi claims Delhi roads were clear on Tuesday. The MCD’s Central Control Room claimed to have received no complaints of water-logging on Tuesday. They further maintained that water-logging and traffic havoc caused on Monday evening following heavy rains was a result of the massive construction work currently on in the Capital.
At a top-level meeting held on Tuesday morning, the MCD further recommended some “remedial action” while stressing on “better coordination” among various civic agencies to ensure effective response to situation arising out of heavy rain.
The Corporation said it will ensure its officials stay on the field during rain in the coming weeks to make sure that immediate necessary action is taken, especially at vulnerable points.
“We have directed all MCD officials to ensure that vulnerable points already identified should be given special emphasis. It must be ensured that the suction pumps are kept ready. It was also emphasised where other agencies are carrying out development works... the fault should be brought to their notice,” said Mayor P R Sawhney.