New Delhi: Rain in Delhi As soon as it rains, Delhiites start sweating that they will drown again. Waterlogging brings the danger of vehicles drowning and getting damaged. The network of excellent roads is left in ruins. The roads remain submerged till the knees.

One of the major hotspots is Minto Bridge. Due to its bowl-like shape, during heavy rainfall, water gets poured from all sides and within a short time, the road under the bridge turns into a deep pond.

All the measures taken to resolve this issue raised questions about administrative foresight. Minto Bridge is located at the main traffic junction of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Marg and Swami Vivekanand Marg (formerly Minto Road) and leads to Connaught Place on one side and New Delhi Railway Station, Old Delhi and Darya Ganj on the other.

It was told that the reason for waterlogging here is its steep slope. Water comes here from Connaught Place, Swami Vivekanand Marg, DDU Marg, New Delhi Railway Station and all the connecting roads around it. All the arrangements stop here. Water is removed with the help of pumps.

During heavy rains, the water backfill is much more than what is pumped out. In 1967, the slope was widened to stop the water flow, but it did not help. Around 1980, storm water drains were also built on both sides of DDU Marg, but the problem remained the same.

The more water you take out, the more it comes back

According to PWD officials, there is a sewer line of Delhi Jal Board passing through Old Delhi, it overflows here when it rains. The situation is such that water starts coming out of its lid very fast, to stop this, PWD has placed big pots at two or three places on the lid of the roadside sewer so that water does not come out of the sewer. Well, how will the overflow of water be stopped by pots.

Along with this, PWD has also built its own drain to drain out the water from here quickly, which goes through DDU Marg and meets the drain located at Tilak Marg about a km ahead. PWD has not been able to find out till now at which junction the water of its drain and sewer water meet in DDU Marg? After backflow, it comes back to Minto Bridge. In such a situation, whatever water PWD removes with pumps, a lot of water comes back.

Attempts to resolve the issue-

. Preparations are being made to install four 50 HP submersible pumps, because at present during floods, the pump house itself fills up with water up to 10 feet.

Accidents also happened-

In July 2020, a person died due to drowning in the waterlogging caused by rain water. This bridge is kept closed during the rainy season.  Responsibility- of the Public Works Department.

this is the solution

Due to waterlogging in the pump house located near Minto Bridge, normal electric motor pumps do not work. Submersible is suitable for this. Along with increasing its number, proper cleaning of drains and sewers is necessary so that water reaches the main drain quickly without any leakage or obstruction.

It is necessary to install a submersible

Former Chief Engineer of Public Works Department Dinesh Kumar said that due to waterlogging, the pump house is suddenly getting filled with water up to the motor, so in such a situation, installing a submersible would be the right solution. Apart from this, a normal motor will also be needed.