Delhi: Man drowns under Minto bridge as capital reels from heavy rains

Heavy rains plunged Delhi into chaos on Sunday as scenes of waterlogged roads were reported across the National Capital Region. One man, a 56-year-old mini-truck driver, was found dead after having drowned in the flooded region under the Minto bridge. Another person was electrocuted to death in Jahagirpuri.

The driver was reportedly trying to move his vehicle after it got stuck in the water under the bridge. His body was found by a trackman working nearby, who saw it floating in front of a bus, ANI reported. The bus was stuck below the bridge for some time, with visuals of Fire Department personnel rescuing people who were on board it.

Police later identified him as Kundan Kumar, resident of Pithogarh, Uttarakhand. He had been driving a Tata Ace from the New Delhi Railway Station to Connaught Place when he got stuck in the waterlogged area while trying to manoeuvre his vehicle through the flooded underpass.

Police said they suspected that he died due to drowning since no external injury marks were found on his body. His body has been shifted to a mortuary at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital wherein it will be handed over to his family after post-mortem.

Houses were also seen collapsing in a slum in Delhi’s ITO area after a canal running through it overflowed, NDTV reported. In shocking visuals shared on social media, houses can be seen crumbling and getting washed away by the rushing waters.

Traffic jams were reported across the city, from Azadpur to Mukarba Chowk, Yashwant Place to Ashoka Road, at Ring Road, Bhairon Road, and near Mundka metro station due to the heavy waterlogging.

Not a time for blame game, says Kejriwal as BJP slams AAP govt over waterlogging

A DTC bus stuck at waterlogged Zakhira underpass as children play, after rains in New Delhi, Sunday, July 19, 2020 | PTI

This is not the time to play the blame game over waterlogging in parts of Delhi as all agencies have been busy combating the coronavirus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday after the BJP charged that the first spell of rains has "exposed" the AAP government's preparations.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari alleged that the AAP government's preparations have been exposed by the first spell of monsoon rains.

In a tweet in Hindi, Kejriwal said, "This year, all agencies, be it Delhi government or MCD (civic body), were busy in prevention of COVID-19. They faced many difficulties due to corona. This is not the time to blame each other. All have to fulfil their responsibilities together. Wherever there is waterlogging, we will try to pump out water immediately."

Later, in another tweet, the chief minister said water had been drained from the Minto Bridge. Kejriwal said he had been in touch with the agencies and monitoring the process of removing water from there.

Slamming the chief minister, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta in a tweet said that it is just the beginning of monsoon and asked the AAP dispensation to take concrete steps as soon as possible to prevent waterlogging.

Gupta also condoled the death at Minto Bridge which comes under the Delhi PWD. He said that if steps were taken in time, the death due to waterlogging could have been prevented.

"Minto Bridge area comes under the PWD of Delhi government. There is a pump which was not started in time and the DJB line which carries the lifted water was also choked. We have been raising this issues in the past.

Taking to Twitter, Tiwari said that the situation worsened in a few hours of rains and wondered what will happen if there is rains for months.

"...Arvind Kejriwal ji your preparations are exposed by the first rains of Monsoon. A solid plan should be prepared to deal with the rains so that Delhi could be prevented from submerging and people saved from difficulties" the BJP MP said on Twitter.

North MCD Mayor Jai Prakash, who visited the Minto Bridge on Sunday morning, claimed that he got North Delhi Municipal Corporation staffers clear water from the area.

With inputs from PTI