Heavy rain inundates Delhi, disrupts traffic; AQI cleanest since 2023

New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Relentless monsoon rain battered Delhi on Thursday, inundating roads, uprooting tress and triggering widespread traffic snarls. The downpour also helped the national capital record its cleanest air since September 2023, with parts of the city receiving over 160 mm of rainfall. The death toll in the building collapse in Rohini rose to three as incessant rainfall continued to batter the national capital, triggering widespread waterlogging, traffic disruptions and structural damage in several parts of the city. Authorities received 68 complaints of waterlogging during the day, while heavy rain disrupted traffic across several parts of the city. The spell also triggered a fresh political war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Water Minister Parvesh Verma criticising the previous AAP government, claimed that despite the city receiving over 100 mm of rain, traffic moved smoothly at the Minto Bridge underpass, where even large buses had routinely been stranded during downpours earlier. According to officials, the Public Works Department (PWD)received 40 complaints of waterlogging, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) 16 and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) 12. The NDMC also received 26 complaints of power outages and reported five incidents of tree falls across its jurisdiction. Waterlogging was reported from several areas, including Vikas Marg, parts of East Delhi, Sangam Vihar, the New Delhi railway station area, Munirka, Sadar Bazar, Alipur, Burari, Badarpur and Dwarka. In Alipur, several trucks and cars were partially submerged , disrupting traffic and affecting commuters. Traffic was also disrupted at ITO, Rohtak Road, the Mehrauli-Badarpur (MB) Road, NH-48, Ring Road, Punjabi Bagh and Shadipur due to waterlogging and heavy congestion. According to the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), two trees fell at separate locations on Raja Dhir Singh Marg in East of Kailash, while one tree each fell on Guru Ravidas Marg in the Kalkaji-Govindpuri area and Dhingra Marg. Another large tree fell on a parked car in Ranjeet Nagar. The city's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 48 on Thursday, the cleanest air recorded in nearly two years and ten months. The last time Delhi's AQI was lower was on September 10, 2023, when it stood at 45. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor', and 401-500 'severe'. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Safdarjung, the city's base weather station, recorded 72.6mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Thursday. Tukhmirpur in northeast Delhi's Khajuri received the highest rainfall at 160 mm during this period, it said. Mayur Vihar received 103 mm of rainfall, Delhi University 90 mm, Mehrauli 86 mm, Pusa and Lodhi Road AWS 83 mm each, Lodhi Road 80 mm, Ridge 78 mm and Chhatarpur 72 mm. Palam and Narayana recorded 63 mm of rainfall each, Janakpuri 62 mm, Ayanagar 57 mm, Pragati Maidan 50 mm, Najafgarh 43 mm, Mungeshpur 41 mm, Jharoda Kalan 33 mm and Jafarpur 6 mm. Between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm, Safdarjung recorded 32.4 mm of rainfall, while Lodhi Road received 33.2 mm. Ridge logged 25.6 mm, Palam recorded 1.8 mm and Ayanagar received 3.8 mm of rainfall, according to the IMD. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta inspected drainage arrangements in her Shalimar Bagh constituency, as government agencies remained on alert. Officials said teams of the PWD, MCD and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) had been deployed across the city to prevent waterlogging and ensure prompt drainage of accumulated rainwater. The ruling BJP claimed the city did not witness widespread waterlogging despite heavy rainfall over the past three days. Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra said extensive desilting of drains and sewer lines had been carried out over the past one-and-a-half months under the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. He said 169 waterlogging points and 445 vulnerable locations had been identified, while 167 pump houses and 754 mobile pumps were installed before June 28. "We can confidently say that the Delhi government has succeeded in its first major effort," Malhotra said. Hitting back, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the BJP government was focusing only on the Minto Bridge underpass while ignoring waterlogging in the rest of the city. "Entire Delhi is submerged, but they keep on talking about Minto Bridge underpass. We solved that problem during our government. Besides that, several other areas are facing waterlogging, there is filth spread around and broken roads in other parts of the city," Kejriwal said. His remarks came after the BJP government in Delhi claimed it had permanently resolved the waterlogging problem at the Minto Bridge underpass by constructing an additional drain. Safdarjung recorded a maximum temperature of 29.2 degrees Celsius, 7.4 notches below normal, while Lodhi Road logged 28 degrees Celsius , Ridge 28.5 degrees Celsius and Ayanagar 28.4 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature at Safdarjung settled at 24.3 degrees Celsius. Palam recorded 22.6 degrees Celsius, while Lodhi Road, Ridge and Ayanagar recorded minimum temperatures of 24.2 degrees Celsius, 21.3 degrees Celsius and 24.8 degrees Celsius, respectively. Environmental activists said trees do not suddenly become hazardous during rainfall but are gradually weakened by years of human intervention, including road widening, extensive concretisation, utility trenching and damage to root systems. Weather experts attributed the persistent rain over the past two days to the seasonal monsoon trough shifting northwards from central India towards the Himalayan foothills. They said Delhi is likely to continue receiving widespread rainfall until the system moves further north, after which the city is expected to witness drier spells from July 12. PTI SGV SSM VIT AHD BUN MDO MDO