Waterlogged since 1950s: Why Minto Bridge is Delhi’s flooding constant

In a news report published in July 1958 in Hindustan Times, then municipal commissioner of Delhi PR Nayak said they have installed pump sets to prevent waterlogging under the Minto Bridge. The measure was undertaken as part of anti-flooding measures suggested by the Reddi Committee.

Sixty-two years later, the civic agencies are yet to find a solution to the annual monsoon flooding of the railway underbridge, which according to late historian and chronicler of Delhi RV Smith, was built in 1933.

A short but heavy spell of rain on Sunday inundated the underpass yet again, drowning vehicles and killing the 56-year-old driver of a mini truck.

Also read: 56-year-old tempo driver drowns in waterlogged Minto Road underpass

Muktesh Chander, senior IPS officer and a former Delhi traffic police chief, tweeted that he has seen the underpass flooding since his childhood. “Since my childhood I have seen almost every year, photographs of DTC bus submerged in water under Minto bridge during monsoon. Why can’t engineers, town planners & civic agency officials fix it? Let only one agency, whose name should be prominently displayed there, own & fix it,” Chander tweeted.

The underbridge lies at the key traffic junction of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Marg and Swami Vivekananda Marg (formerly Minto Road) and leads to Connaught Place on one side and New Delhi station, Old Delhi and Darya Ganj on the other.

Subhash Arya, who was a municipal councillor in the city from 1983 till 2017, said he has seen the underpass flooding since 1947, when he was just a five -year-old. “It has a deep slope and water from all the approach roads, including Swami Vivekananda Marg as well as from CP, flows into it. It has no outlet.”

Arya said the underpass was a common flood point then too. “During the monsoons, it would get flooded and buses would get trapped. In 1967, the slope was widened to manage the water flow, but it didn’t help much. In 1980s, the stormwater drains were laid on both sides of the DDU Marg,” he added.

So, more than 60 years later, why has no agency been able to fix the problem? It is because the bridge is a heritage structure, explained Jagdish Mamgain, who was the works committee chairperson of the erstwhile MCD.

“All one can do is experiment with engineering solutions. The first pump was installed there in 1958, when flooding under the bridge became a huge issue in the municipal House,” he said.

He added that during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, there was a scheme to add two more tracks to the bridge and level the road from beneath to raise its height, but it did not take off.

In July 2018, when two DTC buses were submerged in the flooded underpass and 10 people had to be rescued, the Delhi High Court had directed all agencies concerned to coordinate efforts and prepare a plan to prevent such instances. A concrete solution to the problem, however, is yet to be found.

Officials in the Public Works Department (PWD), which manages the road, said four suction pumps are installed at the underpass that are ready to be deployed throughout the day. Two of these pumps are in operation while the other two are on standby. “Sunday’s waterlogging seems to have been due a blockage in the main sewer line on DDU Marg. It seems that water came out of the main hose and flooded the road, a low-lying area. A detailed enquiry report will be prepared soon,” said a senior PWD official, who asked not to be named.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who holds interim charge of the PWD portfolio, said, “At all such points where waterlogging occurs frequently, steps are being taken to fix the issue and prevent waterlogging. All agencies have to work together in this task.”

The DJB, which manages the sewer line on DDU Marg, said there was no blockage. “Had there been a blockage, the water would not have drained at all. We have inspected the sewer line, no blockage was found. It could only be because of the PWD pumps either not being functional or not being turned on at the right time,” a senior DJB official said.

Experts said the agencies should prepare in advance since the problem takes place only during monsoon. “Often drivers fail to gauge the depth of water and try to cross over and get trapped. Till the time, a concrete engineering solution is found, all agencies including the traffic police should coordinate efforts and ensure better drainage of the stormwater and divert traffic as soon as the road starts flooding,” said Sewa Ram, professor and head of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture.