The key Pragati Maidan and Minto Road underpasses were closed for vehicular movement on Saturday due to waterlogging as heavy rains lashed the national capital.
The Public Works Department received 100 complaints of waterlogging from across Delhi through the day, as their officials worked on the ground to respond to complaints.
The waterlogging situation led to a political slugfest, with Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva saying Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Mayor Shelly Oberoi owe a reply to Delhi on this. Government sources, however, said the city received more than 100mm rain on Saturday, which is 15 per cent of the total rainfall Delhi gets every monsoon.
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"This much water cannot be drained while the rain is still on. Once the rain stopped, the water cleared rapidly through the drainage system," a source added. According to Public Works Department (PWD) officials, the Minto Road Bridge experienced waterlogging due to overflowing Delhi Jal Board drains.
"We were on the spot and in order to avoid any untoward incident and to ensure safety of commuters, it was closed for traffic for half an hour. However, there were very few traffic personnel on ground. Our field staff and senior officials had to monitor the situation," said a senior PWD official.
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In 2020, a man had died after his vehicle was stuck on the waterlogged stretch and he could not get out of it. The Pragati Maidan tunnel, which connects India Gate with Ring Road here, witnessed waterlogging on Saturday due to rain, with officials having to shut it for vehicular movement for nearly an hour. The tunnel will be used by delegates during the G20 Summit. According to PWD officials, the tunnel has seven underground sumps along with automatic pumps.
"However, the problem of waterlogging is due to the water released from India Gate side towards Mathura Road. Also, all the construction waste coupled with water is released there from the Pragati Maidan construction site. It also comprises mud which gets stuck in the pumps hampering its capacity. In fact, recently one of the pumps had stopped working and we had to replace it," the official said.
The PWD control room received waterlogging complaints from areas including Jangpura, New Seelampur, Zakhira flyover, Jahangirpuri, Vikas Marg, ITO, etc. "There were some complaints that pertained to roads under other agencies and we forwarded those," he said.
The Pul Prahladpur underpass, which was earlier a waterlogging hotspot but was taken off the list, also witnessed stagnation of water for some but it was pumped out ensuring that commuters did not face inconvenience.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on June 19 last year inaugurated the 1.3-km-long tunnel and five underpasses as part of the Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor Project that aims to ease connectivity between central Delhi with the eastern parts of the city and the satellite towns of Noida and Ghaziabad.
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One end of the tunnel is near the National Sports Complex of India (NSCI) on Purana Qila Road. The tunnel passes underneath the redeveloped Pragati Maidan and its other end is on Ring Road, near the Pragati power station.
