PWD Minister inspects Connaught Place Outer Circle after waterlogging

A day after heavy rains caused waterlogging in parts of Connaught Place, PWD Minister Parvesh Verma inspected the affected Outer Circle stretch here on Sunday and blamed alterations made to decades-old drainage system for the mess.

Verma said the root cause lies in the 100-year-old barrel drainage system, whose capacity was reduced over time due to building construction in the area, restricting the natural water flow. The minister said he had also visited the site near the Kake Da Hotel stretch late on Saturday night when rainwater had accumulated over a 100m section.

“To address this, we have installed two high-capacity pumps to ease the load and push water forward more efficiently,” Verma said, adding that a detailed point-by-point study would be conducted to find a permanent fix. He noted that water had entered some shops during the downpour.

Earlier on Saturday, the New Delhi Traders’ Association (NDTA), the primary traders’ body of Connaught Place, had also flagged several low-lying stretches prone to waterlogging, including the Outer Circle near H Block (opposite the Panchkuian Road entry) and opposite L Block (from Minto Road towards Haldiram’s) and the Middle Circle behind A Block and B Block, which, it said, are among the worst affected due to their low elevation.

Further, the PWD Minister highlighted that 34 other critical points across Delhi, including Zakhira, Minto Bridge, Moolchand and ITO, remained free from waterlogging this season due to “continuous monitoring, timely interventions and rapid on-site action.”

Verma said water accumulation on PWD roads has been “significantly lower” this year and vowed that Delhi would be “completely free from waterlogging” in the coming years. However, the AAP criticised the minister for what it called a “belated and meaningless” inspection.

Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged Verma “woke up 24 hours after the city drowned” and accused him of ignoring families of seven victims killed in rain-related incidents, including a wall collapse. “If he truly wanted to see waterlogging, he should have gone out with an umbrella during the rain,” Bharadwaj said.

The Congress also targeted the BJP government, with Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav visiting heavily waterlogged areas in Karol Bagh to “call the BJP’s bluff.” Yadav accused CM Rekha Gupta’s administration of failing to deliver on promises made after earlier rains, claiming that a month-long sanitation drive had not prevented trash from clogging roads during the latest downpour.