Like any other day, on 31st July, I left for home from my office at 9.30 pm. After a long wait, it had rained in Noida, so I was happy to get relief from the heat, but imagining what happens to the traffic in Delhi NCR after the rain, a fear had also started to arise in my mind. The rain was still continuing, although the drops were getting a little weaker. When I checked the traffic till home on Google Map, it was showing 55 minutes. Usually, it takes me about 30 minutes to reach home from the office at this time. I left the office taking the name of God and there was a jam on the main road itself. It took about 15 minutes to leave the office. Now my car was running on Vishwakarma Road in Noida. There was also a fear in my mind that it would take more time to reach home than what Google Map was showing. Apprehensions were rising in my mind and then I reached an underpass which is very deep. The traffic got jammed there for a long time.
The raindrops were not stopping. Suddenly when I looked around, a strange fear started to enter my mind that if the rain intensifies, the underpass will keep getting filled with water and there is no way to get out. The water was so full that I saw some scooters floating in the water. Whoever could not pull his two-wheeler in that water must have left it and moved ahead. Some vehicles were broken on the way, while some were stuck in the water. Helplessness was clearly visible on everyone’s faces. Everyone knew that if help was needed, they would not be available here. I was also among the scared people. Just a few hours ago I was happy with the rain, but now the same rain seemed to be becoming a disaster instead of relief.
Anger, helplessness and the coaching centre incident
My heart was filled with anger. I had similar anger after hearing the news that 3 students had died in Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi due to waterlogging in the basement. Those students would not have thought that the basement library where they were studying would be flooded with so much rainwater that they would not even get time to come out, but what happened in Delhi can happen anywhere. Now I feel that similar incidents will happen on the roads or in the underpasses. Remember how rain wreaked havoc in Mumbai on 26 July 2008. The way the pattern of rain is changing, cities are sitting on ‘water gunpowder’. It is difficult to say when this gunpowder will explode. We wake up only when a calamity befalls us, by then the game is over.
now the flood of water
The game of games is now turning into a flood of water. To make my point more concrete, I would like to take the same night’s journey forward. Somehow I got out of that underpass but the traffic was moving at a snail’s pace. Then I saw an alternative route and turned my car towards it. By then my Google Maps also stopped working. I kept driving the car forward in the darkness of the night. When my car went ahead for a few kilometers, I got suspicious after seeing the road. This was the road near Khoda Colony, where water was filled up to the knees at some places and up to the waist at other places. Now in front of me was a situation of a well in front and a ditch behind. If I go forward, there is a full possibility of the car getting stuck in the water and if I go back, it is certain that I will get stuck in the traffic. Somehow I gather courage and move towards the well i.e. the water filled on the road. I covered the distance of about two kilometers by taking the name of God, because during this time my car could have stopped and could have got stuck in a ditch.
That moment of 10-15 minutes…
Believe me, for 10-15 minutes, there was nothing in front of my eyes. I was frantically driving the car forward. I was just lucky that neither my car got stuck in the water nor did I come across any pothole hidden inside the water. I felt relieved when I reached home after completing the 30-minute journey in 3 hours. These three hours were also because I took an alternate route in between which was no less than hell, but the irony is that I reached home a little early through that hell, otherwise many of my friends and thousands of people completed this 18-20 hour journey in 4-5 hours. This was not the condition of just one road, but the condition of traffic was similar in many places in the country’s capital and the cities around it. You can go to any city, you will find the roads shining but there is no way to get rid of waterlogging.
If there is a solution, there is no roadmap; if there is a roadmap, there is no action
No matter which government is in power, no matter which party the mayor belongs to, no one has a solution to get out of the waterlogging. If there are solutions, there is no roadmap, if there is a roadmap, there is no action. The Nagarpalika or Municipal Corporation of every city in the country has become a center of corruption. You will hear in the news that the drains are being cleaned before the monsoon, but this has remained confined to papers only.
In reality, neither the drains are cleaned nor the administration has any preparation as to how to get rid of water logging in case of heavy rains. Just as rain depends on God, similarly, if there is heavy rain, how big will be the disaster, at least the administration does not have a way to avoid it. After the arrival of monsoon, the cities turn into hell and we all are forced to live in this hell.
Oh water, what is your colour?
If you come on the road, it’s like a traffic jam
If it gets buried in the basement, it’s like death
Dharmendra Kumar.Executive Editor
The author is working as an Executive Editor in Network 18 Group. Post Graduate Mass Communication in Journalism. Experience of more than one and a half decade in Star News, Aaj Tak, Zee News, Republic Bharat. An outspoken journalist who keeps a keen eye on Indian politics as well as sports and business news.