Sharp showers – and Delhi crawls

“There was acute waterlogging at Minto Road and Purana Qila Road as the underbridges got clogged. It became very difficult to handle the traffic. There were two-hour-long traffic jams on various stretches,” said Sanjay Tyagi,Deputy Commissioner of Police(New Delhi,Traffic).

The worst-hit stretches in New Delhi area were ITO intersection,India Gate,Mandi House and Tilak Marg. The ITO crossing witnessed a three-hour traffic jam,said the traffic police. “The Tilak Marg stretch is around 4-km-long and it was blocked for over 2 hours. We had to divert traffic at Tilak Marg through Bhairon Road,” said Tyagi.

Many commuters missed their trains due to the snarls.

“I left home one hour in advance for the railway station,I have been stuck in this jam for more than an hour now. I know I have missed my train,but I just need to get out of this jam. The signals are not working,the lanes are blocked,it’s a mess,” said Ram Manohar,a commuter.

In South Delhi,South Extension-2,Ring Road and the stretch from Moolchand flyover to AIIMS were clogged. “Three lanes in these areas were waterlogged. The movement was only on one carriageway,” said Prem Nath,DCP (South,Traffic)

Manjeet Singh,a resident of Lajpat Nagar,said: “I have to go pick up my six-year-old daughter from her school in Dhaula Kuan. I also do not have enough petrol in my car. If my car stops in this jam,I will be stuck here forever. She will be waiting for me.”

On the stretch from IIT to Mehrauli,barring one lane,the rest of the carriageway was blocked. The traffic tail on this route went up to Aurobindo Marg. It took around three hours to ease the congestion,police said.

Many commuters also complained of signal failures,but police said traffic signals had been switched off so that the traffic could be managed manually.

“Wherever traffic congestion was reported,signals were switched off. This was done to ensure clearance of jam. It is an important measure to ease out congestion,” said B S Bassi,Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic)

Extra traffic personnel were also deployed to ease traffic flow. “Today all the staff is out on the road. There are more than 500 traffic police officials deployed on field. There were also various officers on bikes to go into lanes and help ease congestion,” said Mahesh Bhardwaj,DCP (East,Traffic).

Meanwhile,an under-construction temple in Geeta Colony collapsed due to heavy rainfall,injuring a 46-year-old woman.

There 18 complaints of waterlogging and 6 complaints of trees falling across the city.