By IANS,
New Delhi : A spell of rain Wednesday evening left many parts of the national capital water logged as thousands of commuters returning home had a harrowing time negotiating serpentine traffic snarls.
Scores of busy roads and traffic junctions like the Ring Road, Race Course Road, Aurangzeb Road, ITO, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Munirka, Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Vikas Puri, Dhaula Kuan, Moolchand, Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Laxmi Nagar, Pandav Nagar, Preet Vihar and Punjabi Bagh were jam-packed.
“Once it rains, traffic goes haywire in the capital. Traffic signals were not working and vehicles are almost at a standstill,” said Shailesh Kumar Singh, a government employee.
“It took me over two hours to reach R.K. Puram from Krishi Bhawan which normally takes less than 30 minutes. Where are the traffic police?” Singh wondered.
Suresh Kumar, who travelled from Connaught Place to Palam Vihar in a bus on route no. 781, said: “Bad roads and incomplete construction works are really making life difficult whenever it rains.
“How do we call New Delhi a world-class city, when we don’t have basic amenities like well-maintained roads? The traffic situation is really bad,” Kumar said with a note of frustration after spending over three hours to reach home.
This is not the first time that New Delhi was almost clogged after a heavy spell of rain. While the traffic police blame bad roads and civic authorities for the chaos, officials only make tall claims about improving the road conditions.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the capital received over 7 mm of rain in the evening. Meteorologists forcast the city will experience cloudy weather Thursday.
On Wednesday, New Delhi registered a minimum temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 35 degrees, one notch above the normal level.