Delhi gets first monsoon shower

The rain also brought down the temperature to 22.4 degree celsius, six notches below the season’s average. (Source: PTI)

Delhi received its first monsoon rain on Thursday morning, several days ahead of schedule. While the monsoon usually reaches Delhi around June 29, the MeT department had predicted on June 22 that it would reach the capital by June 26. The rain also brought down the temperature to 22.4 degree celsius, six notches below the season’s average.

Meanwhile, civic agencies in the city are bracing for the monsoons with officials identifying the lack of sewers and garbage management as the principal problems during the season. “We have formed a three-part strategy. Part one is desilting of drains and two is pumping. The third is that we have identified 160 vulnerable locations where corrective measures have been taken,” PWD superintending engineer Divakar Agrawal.

“Out of these, only 40 locations showed water logging last year. Delhi has two problems – one is that 50 per cent of the city has no sewerage connections. As a result, sewage flows from stormwater drains resulting in water logging. The second problem is that of garbage management. Empty plots and corners are dumped with garbage which flows down the drain. We have enough pumps to remove garbage and are can handle rains measuring up to 80mm,” he said.

(Harsh Singh is an intern with the Indian Express)