Red-faced Dikshit swings into action-13/07/2010

13/07/2010

Red-faced Dikshit swings into action

New Delhi: With Delhi witnessing massive traffic jams and waterlogging following rains, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday directed civic agencies to improve the drainage and repair roads damaged by the downpour in the city which is bracing up for the Commonwealth Games.



Dikshit particularly directed the agencies involved in various road projects to the construction wastes and other debris immediately, holding that rubbles lying in and around project sites blocked the drains following the rains.

The road network in the national capital crawled on Monday evening following heavy rains even as water-logging and serpentine traffic jams were reported from all over city, raising question mark over the government's preparedness for the Commonwealth Games to be held in less than three months' time.

Atleast 11 people, including two woman and three children, were killed in rain-related incidents in the city on Monday. The Chief Minister also visited various project sites on Tuesday to take stock of the situation and sternly directed officials to complete the projects ahead of the deadline of August 31.


When asked about Monday's situation and whether Delhi was prepared for the mega sporting event, the Chief Minister said the government has set August 10 as deadline for removing all the construction wastes and other garbages across the city.

"It is true that there is lot of rubble lying around. We had set August 10 as deadline for clearing the rubble," she said, adding "the rain yesterday was unprecedented." Not satisfied with MCD's preparation for the monsoon, the government has also asked for a report from the agency on its preparations for rainy season.

At a high-level meeting last week, Dikshit had pulled up various agencies implementing Games-related projects for lack of coordination among them and set a final deadline of August 31 to complete all minor as well as major works linked to the event.


Aditi Mathur, a college student stuck at the Nirman Vihar Metro Station said, "The train stopped a little ahead of the station for around an hour and there were no announcements informing how long the delay last. It was quite a harrowing experience."

Meanwhile, the rains once again highlighted the poor infrastructure in the city as massive traffic snarls followed the water logging on important roads. Uprooted trees also messed up traffic at 13 locations. The traffic police were present at all major spots but had a tough time controlling the traffic.



Delhi is set to get more showers Tuesday, a day after heavy rains lashed the city bringing down minimum temperature four notches below average, the weather office said. The minimum temperature was 23.2 degrees Celsius, said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

"There will be a partly cloudy sky with possibility of thundershowers in the next 24 hours. The maximum temperature is expected to settle at 36 degrees Celsius," a Met office forecast said. An official at the Palam Met office said the winds were expected to support the rains, but their intensity could be little less than that of Monday's.

Wind speed was recorded at 80 kmph at Palam during the rains Monday, leading to uprooting of many trees. On Monday, the national capital witnessed 51.6 mm of rains which led to waterlogging and traffic jams in many parts of the city.

The maximum temperature Monday was 36 degrees while the minimum settled at 28 degrees, a notch above average. The humidity oscillated between a high of 90 percent and a low of 60 percent.




The 51.4 mm of rainfall that lashed the city on Monday evening brought much relief to the citizens from the hot and humid conditions, but as feared, traffic across the city once again went haywire.

A Metro train stopped at Jhandewalan Metro Station of the Dwarka Sector 9-Noida City Centre line at around 6.55 pm due to a local technical problem, delaying other trains between Rajiv Chowk and Dwarka. According to Metro officials, the train was stuck at the station for around 15 minutes till some trouble-shooting got it running again. But as a result of the stoppage, other trains behind it were held up causing "bunching" of trains.

Madhavan Nair, who was returning to Dwarka, told Newsline, "The train I was in stopped in the Metro tunnel between Rajiv Chowk and Ramkrishna Ashram Marg for well over 40 minutes. As the doors were shut and the coaches were packed it became suffocating. Despite our request, the driver refused to open the emergency doors and two commuters started feeling extremely sick."

However, Metro officials maintained that in such cases the ventilation system of the coaches is kept on and doors are not opened. If commuters get down on to the tracks it could lead to further delays, they added.

Aditi Mathur, a college student stuck at the Nirman Vihar Metro Station said, "The train stopped a little ahead of the station for around an hour and there were no announcements informing how long the delay last. It was quite a harrowing experience."

Meanwhile, the rains once again highlighted the poor infrastructure in the city as massive traffic snarls followed the water logging on important roads. Uprooted trees also messed up traffic at 13 locations. The traffic police were present at all major spots but had a tough time controlling the traffic.

The situation, however, was better than the chaos last week, when major points like Dhaula Kuan and Sri Aurobindo Marg had to be closed for traffic movement for close to two hours. For instance, traffic flowed smoothly at Dhaula Kuan.

"There was no traffic stoppage due to water-logging at the underpass as PWD has now made the water pumps functional and the water is immediately pumped out," a traffic official said. But Wazirpur, Pragati Maidan and Qutub Minar Metro stations once again reported major water-logging and traffic jams.

"There have been several localised problems that affected traffic movement, but the traffic snarls then have a domino effect. Traffic gets affected everywhere due to water-logging, vehicles breaking down and uprooted trees. It was definitely a difficult day," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg.

Most of traffic signals too stopped working due to water seepage. Several others had to be closed down to prevent a traffic pile up. "We had to close down several signals to go with the traffic flow. Traffic cannot be directed as per automatic signals in such circumstances. But our men were present at all junctions to direct traffic," Garg said.

After over an hour of rain, the MCD had received 32 complaints of waterlogging from various parts of the city.


TILAK MARG: There was massive water-logging on both sides of the IP flyover, leading to traffic snarls till India Gate. The Traffic police could not carry on with the contra traffic flow, wherein one lane is used for traffic from ITO to Vikas Marg. "The contra flow was not possible as all traffic merged towards the centre. With so much water-logging, it is also not safe to drive in the left lane," said JCP (Traffic) Satyendra Garg.


A veiw of the overcast sky, near the Raisina Hills after a heavy rain in New Delhi on Monday evening. PTI Photo

GOL DAK KHANA: Water-logging at Gol Dak Khana made it very difficult for the traffic flow on the entire Ashoka Road stretch, the main carriageway for East-West traffic.

A view of the street crossing near Raisina Hills during a heavy rain in New Delhi



AZAD MARKET: The railway underpass at Azad Market had at least four feet water on both sides. Subsequently, the breaking down of a DTC bus made traffic come to a complete standstill.

A view of the Raisina Hills during a heavy rain in New Delhi on Monday evening


RING ROAD: Even though the situation was better than last week, when the main Dhaula Kuan stretch was submerged, the traffic flow on the entire Ring Road was very heavy with major problems at ISBT and Rajghat.

Source: PTI & The Indian Express