Delhiites Face Tough Time as Traffic Snarls; Blame Game Begins

New Delhi: Traffic snarls gave a harrowing time to commuters in the national capital on Saturday as heavy rainfall led to water-logging in several areas and long tailbacks of vehicles on major roads, while a blame game ensued among the civic agencies over a lack of preparation for the monsoon.

Several parts of the city were heavily inundated but South Delhi was among the worst-hit and reeled under severe traffic congestion.

Residents and commuters faced a tough time as the mouth of flyovers, underpasses and low-lying localities such as Sangam Vihar were flooded due to water-logging.

"Fortunately, it was a weekend and the water accumulated on major stretches had reduced significantly by the peak hours. Had it been a weekday, things would have gone worse," Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sandeep Goel said.

Traffic was thrown out of gear near AIIMS, IIT-Delhi, Ashram-DND flyway, Moolchand underpass, Jasola, Badarpur, Panchsheel, Yusuf Sarai, Adhchini, South Extension and on several stretches of the circumferential Ring Road.

Amid the troubles faced by Delhiites, BJP-led municipal corporations and the Public Works Department, which is under the AAP government, traded charges over desilting of drains.

Leader of the House in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Subhash Arya claimed the civic body had cleaned all drains under its jurisdiction while the problem was due to uncleaned drains falling under the jurisdiction of the PWD.

"All the (drains) under SDMC have been properly cleaned and silt had also been removed. The bigger drains, which the smaller ones ultimately join, fall under the jurisdiction of PWD and they were not desilted, and turned out to be the major cause of waterlogging," he said.

North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar also blamed the PWD for the chaos caused by waterlogging. Commuters, who tried to take diversions from the arterial stretches, ended up being stranded in areas like Safdarjung Enclave, Defence Colony and Lodhi Colony, said a transport department official.

Reacting to the allegations,a government official said, "It was observed that the problem of water-logging occurred because of lot of flow of silt and sludge from the MCD drains, which are upstream of PWD drains."

With PTI Inputs.