The Hindu : New Delhi News : Rain adds to Delhiites' woes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Rain adds to Delhiites' woes

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 5. The first monsoon showers on Monday afternoon in many parts of South Delhi and Central Delhi brought vehicular movement to a virtual standstill besides triggering large-scale power cuts due to local faults.

While the absence of traffic police personnel at crucial traffic junctions added to the woes of commuters, angry residents alleged that the downpour completely exposed the lack of monsoon preparedness on the part of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and BSES - the discom responsible for power distribution in this part of the Capital.

Among the worst hit were some of the busy South Delhi stretches including Aurobindo Marg, Adhchini, M.B. Road, Malaviya Nagar, Mool Chand, Nehru Place, I.I.T flyover, Defence Colony, Vasant Kunj and adjoining areas. Vehicles were stranded for hours at many of these traffic corridors and quite a large number of commuters had to abandon their stalled cars on the road.

"It was complete chaos and difficult even to crawl," lamented Rita Sinha, a business executive working in Connaught Place. It took her about two hours to reach her destination from Press Enclave in South Delhi. As for the commuters coming from India Gate side via Moolchand towards Chirag Delhi, it took about three hours to reach their destination. "We were held-up at several places along the route because of water-logging," complained B.K. Aggarwal, a businessman.

Many commuters were also stranded near the Indian Oil building on Aurobindo Marg as rainwater entered their vehicles. "Unbelievable! I never thought that right in Delhi one would have to face such a situation," rued Bina, a teacher. However, a senior MCD official claimed that its control room received just nine complaints.

As usual, the rain also brought along with it power cuts in these areas. While at several places load-shedding was resorted to because of local faults, in other colonies power cut was effected as a precautionary measure by the discoms during the rain. For a change, people said load-shedding was for shorter duration. Among the areas affected were Malviya Nagar, South Extension, Greater Kailash, East of Kailash, Andrews Ganj, and R.K. Puram, Bhikaji Cama Place, Munirka and Rajinder Nagar.

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