Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has cancelled weekly Sunday off of all government officers and has instructed them to be on the ground and inspect the water logging areas across the city, following record rainfall in the National Capital on Saturday.
The Chief Minister also said that all Delhi Ministers and Mayor Shelly Oberoi will inspect areas where people are facing problems due to water logging following heavy rainfall in the city.
“Delhi received 126 mm of rain yesterday. 15 per cent of the total rainfall of the monsoon season was just recorded in 12 hours. People were very upset due to waterlogging. Today, all the Ministers and Mayor of Delhi will inspect the problem areas. Officers of all departments have been instructed to cancel the Sunday holiday and get on the ground,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi on Sunday.
For two days, the entire National Capital Region (NCR) has been witnessing heavy rain, which has triggered waterlogging problems.
The initial downpour of monsoon rain wreaked havoc in residential and commercial areas of Delhi on Saturday, recording 126.1 mm of rainfall between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., the highest since the 24-hour rainfall of 133.4 mm on July 10, 2003, said an IMD (India Meteorological Department) official. The city logged an all-time high of 266.2 mm on July 21, 1958.
Downpour, which started on Friday, marked the first substantial rainfall of the season, prompting the issuance of an ‘orange’ alert for further showers on Saturday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also issued a ‘yellow’ alert for Sunday. Due to the rain, 15 houses collapsed in the capital on Saturday, and one house collapsed on Sunday morning.