Yesterday, there was a deluge in Delhi. Today's newspapers report that 11 people across the city died from walls collapsing and electric shock. Roads were jammed for hours and hours and many parts of the city were under a few feet of water.
It is unacceptable that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Delhi's two civil bodies are not punished for this debacle. There is no reason on Earth why Delhi's civic bodies cannot do their job in an efficient and transparent manner.
With a complete disregard to the principles of town planning, we have neglected completely to make an efficient drainage system which would lead rainwater into some kind of natural or man-made reservoir.
What is sad about yesterday's deluge is that not only did we get 51 mm of rain that caused havoc, most of it has gone waste. There may be a few environmentally conscious citizens who were able to capture some of the rainwater and I hope they did.
I hope that the authorities will learn something from this and repair the drainage systems and create a water flow network that will allow excess rainwater to be stored and not wasted.
