By IANS,
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Mayor Kanwar Sain Tuesday offered public apologies after the season’s heaviest monsoon downpour a day earlier left two people dead and exposed the poor civic facilities of a city bracing for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Authorities blamed each other for the stinking mess following some seven hours of heavy rains that flooded low-lying areas and numerous roads because of choking drains, causing massive traffic jams across Delhi that continued for the better part of Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands of people were hit as traffic halted on many key roads. Hundreds of buses simply went off the roads late Monday while numerous vehicles broke down.
All approach roads to the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s domestic terminals were flooded. Rain water even entered the building and the roofs leaked. At least 15 flights were delayed.
“I apologise to the people for the inconvenience due to heavy downpour Monday. But on the other hand, people should be happy as poor rainfall in the region was a major worry for all of us,” Dikshit told reporters.
She blamed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the chaos. “They need to tell us what have they done as they are responsible for providing civic facilities.”
Despite spending Rs.200 million for desilting 1,500 drains across the city ahead of the monsoon, the MCD was hard pressed for an explanation.
Mayor Kanwar Sain also apologised to residents for the harrowing time they faced — Monday and Tuesday.
Sain claimed the MDC was prepared for the monsoon but said ongoing construction work in various parts of the city added to the problems since drains and roads had been dug up in many places.
“I am personally looking after the clearing-up process,” Sain told IANS.
An eight-year-old girl drowned and a 36-year-old man was electrocuted when rains lashed the city Monday, officials said Tuesday.
The body of the girl, Sapna, was found Tuesday when waters receded from her house in Devli in south Delhi. The man, Nadeem, died in Mori Gate area of north Delhi when he touched an electric pole.
Three people were injured when a wall collapsed in the low income locality of Sangam Vihar in south Delhi.
On Tuesday morning, thousands struggled to reach workplaces because of massive traffic jams. Several underpasses remained submerged due to faulty construction of drains. Traffic lights did not work in several areas.
In many areas, portions of the roads simply caved in.
A total of 126 mm of rainfall lashed Delhi Monday. The worst traffic bottlenecks were reported from Minto Road, Dhaula Kuan, Palam, Dwarka, Badarpur, Moolchand, Nehru Place and Patel Nagar as well as Ring Road.
Delhiites were clearly frustrated and furious.
“If one downpour showed up the authorities’ unpreparedness, what would happen if we had a regular monsoon?” asked scientist Anuj Singh, echoing a popular sentiment. Singh was stuck for five hours on the road linking Delhi to neighbouring Noida.
The Delhi Police refused to accept responsibility for the faulty traffic signals, which caused chaos.
Joint Commissioner (Traffic) S.N. Srivastava told IANS: “Why are people blaming the traffic police? What can we do when the entire road is submerged? I and my men were manning the traffic till 2 a.m., completely drenched.”