A short spell of rain exposes Delhi’s vulnerability to monsoon, while authorities remain clueless

Delhi’s annual monsoon melodrama began on Friday. It poured in Delhi on Friday, and in keeping with the traditions, the city promptly slipped into chaos. Trees uprooted, roads vanished under murky pools, and Delhiites looked for boats to ferry them to work. Despite the valiant pre-monsoon war cries from the Delhi Government and civic agencies — complete with buzzwords like “preparedness” and “mobile pump units” — the city once again transformed into a city of lakes.

And if the puddles at Minto Road, Lajpat Nagar, ITO, Dhaula Kuan, and New Friends Colony looked familiar, it’s because they are. To this, electricity outages added just another layer of discomfort while people braved their way through hanging high-voltage wires in Sainik Farm.

The rain didn’t just water the parched trees and vegetation; it revealed the rot. Trees fell like Delhi’s civic accountability — suddenly and without warning. Roads were blocked, traffic crawled, and underpasses became swimming pools. Metro stations were inaccessible, cars were rendered amphibious, and the only thing that flowed faster than the rainwater was public frustration.

Indeed, the story is now an epic — one with a recurring cast of ineffective drainage, clogged stormwater lines, and municipal amnesia. The climax? Always the same — a bureaucratic shrug and a press note that reads like a satire. To be fair, the Public Works Department assures us that 90 per cent of waterlogging complaints were resolved within two hours.

One imagines PWD officials leaping into the streets armed with “super suction machines” pumping out water and hope in equal measure. Meanwhile, commuters remained stranded. The truth is: this happens every single year. Monsoon preparedness in Delhi is like the script of a tragicomedy — grand in promise, flimsy in execution.

For a city that houses ministries, embassies, and monuments, it takes astonishingly little rainfall to descend into administrative freefall. There was talk of making Indian cities ‘smart’, but that is yet to happen. Meanwhile, it would be great if we could have functional cities.

The root of the issue lies not in the clouds, but in the ground: poor urban planning, ageing infrastructure, and a blatant disregard for ecological balance. Drains aren’t desilted in time. Encroachments choke natural water bodies. Green cover is sacrificed for more concrete — then we gasp when the trees give way at the first gust of wind.

So, what should be done? Drainage infrastructure needs a complete overhaul. Enough patchwork — Delhi needs a complete audit and redesign of its drainage network, not just a few pumps on standby. Besides, year-round desilting should be mandatory. Waiting for June to clean drains is like studying the night before an exam — desperate, inefficient, and inevitably disastrous. Besides, there must be a plan to upkeep and manage trees.

They shouldn’t fall because they were ignored all year. Regular pruning, root support, and health assessments are basic urban forestry. However, the biggest drawback is fixing the responsibility. It’s time departments are held publicly and financially accountable for recurring failures. Until then, brace yourselves. Every July, Delhi doesn’t just welcome the monsoon — it re-enacts a calamity.

The only ones who seem genuinely surprised by this annual disaster are the people paid to prevent it. And so we find our way half-submerged, through waterlogged streets. Interestingly, infrastructure secured one of the highest allocations in the national capital’s budget this year.

Out of the 1 lakh crore, `12,952 crore (13 per cent) was allocated to transport, roads and bridges. A total of `3,843 crore was allocated for improving Delhi’s road and bridge infrastructure. But how that money is being utilised is quite visible.

Carry an umbrella, wear waterproof shoes, and if possible, lower your expectations. And be thankful to the Friday downpour, as it gave you a glimpse of things to come this monsoon. After all, this is Delhi — the Capital city where hope floats and politicians pass on the buck.

It was as predictable as it could be. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta conducted inspections at Majnu ka Tila and neighbouring areas and expressed concern over the situation. All she could do to give relief to the people was to post an angry and hapless remark.

Posting on X, she wrote, “Delhi is in a very bad state and needs urgent improvement. It is an alarming situation, and all departments and agencies must take today’s rain as a warning to begin addressing areas prone to waterlogging.”  And in the same breath, she blamed the previous Government for the state of infrastructure, calling it an inherited “mess.”And that’s that. In Delhi, it’s not just the monsoon rains that arrive — promises do too, year after year. Governments change but nothing changes!