From Defense Colony to Vasant Kunj and Jangpura, upscale localities were among several areas across the Capital that woke up to roads choked with water after Delhi saw a heavy spell of rain on Friday with the onset of the monsoon. Many residents complained of drainage backflow. At the market hubs of Connaught Place and Chandni Chowk, several shops were inundated with water.
Highlighting the unprecedented flooding in Nizamuddin and Jangpura areas, former Congress councilor and ex-Mayor Farhad Suri said, “I have not seen anything like this in the last 50 years. The electricity has been disconnected, and there are no generator sets available.”
“Timely desilting of the Barapullah nallah did not take place, resulting in widespread flooding,” he added.
Sharaf Sabri, president of the Jangpura Extension RWA, said, “Many areas are completely waterlogged, and basements are full of water. It appears desilting work has not taken place.”
Vijay Kumar Bharadwaj, president of Defense Colony A Block RWA, said it has made a list of 52 basements reported to be completely waterlogged apart from over 300 complaints.
“Basements are submerged up to 4-5 feet. The water has reached the lift areas, causing the electricity to be cut. There has been a complete breakdown of the system in the past few days. Earlier, when there was no water, I called the area’s representative to send tankers, but they shied away from their responsibilities. On one occasion, I called them to send water tankers for cancer patients (living in the area), but they did not respond for two days. We managed to get tankers on our own. Since this morning, the nallahs have been flowing back, causing sewage to flow into our residences, even though this is supposedly an affluent area,” said Bharadwaj.
Others pointed out that no efforts were made to improve the drainage system ahead of the monsoon. “If one needs to reach the Lado Sarai or the Qutub Minar metro station, then they would need a tractor because the water is so much that a car cannot be used for travel anymore,” said Sharad Vashisht, president of the Mehrauli RWA.
At Vasant Kunj, Savita Soni, who is from the RWA, said: “A lot of places have been waterlogged and many trees have fallen… the MCD had come to desilt the drains a few days ago, but they left the silt on the side. of the drains — it flowed back inside after the rain…”
Said Saurabh Gandhi, president of the Maharana Pratap Bagh RWA and the general secretary of the United Residents of Delhi, which includes a coalition of 1,800 of Delhi’s RWAs, “The issue is that neither has the sewage been cleaned nor the nallahs… the sewage has been back flowing because the nallahs are interconnected. This is a failure of all government agencies, whether it is the PWD, MCD or Jal Board.”
At Connaught Place, water entered the shop premises at G Block, the middle circle of A and B blocks, and H Block, said Atul Bhargava, president of the Connaught Place Traders’ Association.
“We pay the highest property tax in the country, but civic amenities are not commensurate with the money collected,” Bhargava said, criticizing the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
Sanjay Bhargava, president of the Chandni Chowk Traders Association, said most shops in the area were flooded despite recent stormwater drain cleaning efforts. “The volume of rainfall was very high, causing water from the galis to flood the roads. I’ve suffered great losses as my stock is now wet, and my shop was waterlogged up to 8 inches,” he said.
Similarly, Rajesh Sharma, president of the Marwari Market Traders Association, shared that there was extensive waterlogging at Nai Sadak, with many shops inundated after the rainfall.