Delhi-NCR, which is battling the humid heat, received rain on Wednesday and it brought more trouble than relief. The most dangerous rainfall of this season so far has been recorded in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday. So much rain in a short time turned the roads into a sea. A woman and her three-year-old child died in Ghazipur.
According to the Meteorological Department, there were many areas of Delhi-NCR where more than 100 mm of rain was recorded in an hour. When more than 100 mm of rain falls within an hour, it is considered as ‘cloud burst’ rain.
Due to so much rain, most areas of Delhi became inundated. There was jam on the roads in Delhi-NCR. After this the Meteorological Department also issued a ‘Red Alert’. In view of this, schools and colleges were closed in Delhi on Thursday.
How much trouble did the rain bring?
According to the Meteorological Department, 147.5 mm of rain was recorded in East Delhi and 113 mm of rain in South-West Delhi on Wednesday. Due to such heavy rain, at least 10 flights landing at Delhi airport were diverted. Eight landed at Jaipur and two at Lucknow airport.
Old Rajendra Nagar was filled with knee-deep water. A few days ago, three students had died due to water logging in the basement of a coaching center here. At the same time, water entered many showrooms and restaurants in Connaught Place.
Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) said that due to heavy rains, 4 calls were received for water logging and 3 calls for falling trees. Besides, there was power cut in many areas across Delhi.
The boundary wall of a school in Daryaganj, Old Delhi fell on the vehicles parked outside. The incident of road subsidence also came to light here. Vehicles were seen floating on the roads in Chhatarpur, South Delhi. Filling of water in Pragati Maidan Tunnel also created chaos.
The Meteorological Department has also issued a red alert for Thursday. The Meteorological Department said that it has predicted rain in Delhi till August 5.
But why does Delhi sink?
The kind of rain that occurred in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday and the situation that developed thereafter is not a new thing for the people living here. Such situations happen every year in Delhi-NCR.
One of the biggest reasons for this is that Delhi is moving towards urbanization at the fastest pace. According to the economic survey of the Delhi government, the scope of urbanization in the capital has doubled in the 20 years between 1991 and 2011. In 1991, the urban area in Delhi was 685 square kilometers, which increased to more than 1,113 square kilometers in 2011.
According to the United Nations report, by 2030 Delhi will be the most populous city in the world. Then the population of Delhi will be around 4 crores. Currently the most populous city is Tokyo.
However, this is not the only reason for such conditions in Delhi. It is believed that discussions have been going on since 1960 to make Delhi flood free, but its effect is not visible on the ground.
Is there something wrong with the planning?
In 1912, the British decided to make Delhi their capital. The responsibility of preparing Delhi as the capital was given to British architect Edward Lutyens. It is said that Lutyens knew that the Yamuna River would cause floods in Delhi every year, but his concern was ignored because King George V had laid the foundation stone.
Former Delhi Development Authority (DDA) commissioner AK Jain told NDTV that the first master plan of Delhi after independence was prepared in 1962. In that plan, Yamuna river was described as ‘vacant land’. He had told that Delhi faces geographical challenges in its development, because on one side of it there is a river and on the other side there are mountains.
Not only this, 100 square km area around Yamuna river has been declared Zone O. This means that there will be no construction activity in 100 square km area. But despite this, hundreds of unauthorized colonies were established here. The government is preparing to regularize them.
Apart from this, there is a proposal to reduce the floodplain of Yamuna in the master plan of 2041. Floodplain is the land around a river. Currently, 10 thousand hectares of land is floodplain, but in the master plan of 2041, it has been recommended to declare only 6,400 hectares of land as floodplain. This means that the remaining 3,600 hectares of land will be developed and infrastructure will be created.
Now the problem with this will be that Delhi may have to face more dangerous floods in the future. Because the more vacant land there is around the river to absorb flood water, the better it will be. But by reducing the floodplain of Yamuna by 40%, we will have to face more floods in the future.
decades old drainage system
Delhi is still dependent on a decades-old drainage system. The last time Delhi’s drainage system plan was prepared was in 1976. At that time the population of Delhi was around 40 lakh, but now more than 3 crore people live in the capital.
The drainage system which was prepared in 1976 could withstand only 50 mm of rain in 24 hours, but today more than 100 mm of rain is happening in an hour. Sewerage and drainage networks have been created to help the old drainage system, but this also creates the problem of backflow.
Experts believe that when the Drainage Master Plan was prepared, it was made keeping in mind the existing population of Delhi. But now a lot has changed. Since then the population has increased manifold and is continuously increasing.
Now Delhi needs to increase the scope of the drainage system. At the same time, there is also a need to make such arrangements so that rain water can seep into the ground.