The Dhaula Kuan flyover and the nearby roads are among the most important stretches in Delhi, Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Atishi said as she took stock of waterlogging woes in the area on Tuesday. “The officials must take every necessary step to prevent waterlogging here,” the Minister asserted while issuing instructions for short-term and long-term measures to tackle the issue. Accompanied by officials during the review, Atishi also sought an upgrade of the existing drainage system so that it could hold a capacity of up to 100 mm of rainfall per hour. The areas around the Dhaula Kuan flyover are often waterlogged during monsoon, leading to traffic snarls on arterial routes. Most recently, the commuters were inconvenienced after it rained on August 23. The flyover was inaugurated in 2019 to cut travel time to the airport. In a statement, the Delhi government said, “The PWD engineers shared with the Minister that the reason for waterlogging on this stretch of Dhaula Kuan is its ‘bowl shape’. As there is a slope on the stretch, the water from the adjoining roads got collected here due to incessant rain on August 23. Due to this, it took time to drain out the water.” Atishi has also instructed the officials to increase the pumping capacity by deploying sufficient mobile pumps to avoid waterlogging in the future.
