Delhi rains: Shashi Tharoor posts video of waterlogging, gets call from LG VK Saxena; says ‘hats off to…’

Amid heavy rains in Delhi affecting normal lives and traffic movement on Friday, Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, shared a video of knee-deep water outside his home which 'ruined' everything on the ground.

Sharing a video, Tharoor said, “This is the corner just outside my home in Lutyens’ Delhi. Woke up to find my entire home under a foot of water — every room. Carpets and furniture, indeed anything on the ground, ruined.”

The Congress MP added that the storm water drains in the neighbourhood were all clogged, so the water had no place to go.

He further said that the electricity had also been switched off from 6 am for fear of electrocuting people.

“Warned my Parliament colleagues that I might not make it there without a boat. But the city managed to pump water out of the roads and I did arrive in time,” said Tharoor.

Meanwhile, Tharoor said that soon after he posted a video, he received a call from Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena who was courteous and responsive.

“Amazed and impressed that this tweet elicited, within minutes, a phone call from the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi himself! Shri VK Saxena was courteous & responsive and explained the constraints on effective action arising from the division of responsibilities between Union and State Governments,” said 

Tharoor said that the LG does understand the principal problem lies in the failure to clear clogged drains regularly and pledged to do everything in his power to ensure this is done before the next major shower. 

“Hats off to a conscientious civil servant,” added Tharoor.

Several social media users have reacted to Tharoor's post.

Questioning what was going on, one of the users said, “A few days back there was a shortage of water, and now it's waterlogging!”

Another user hoped that numerous books Tharoor has all-over are safe, to which, Tharoor responded, “Lost over 350 to termites already, but the flooding spared the rest. ”

Key updates on Delhi rain

– A portion of the roof of Terminal 1 collapsed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

– One person was killed, and six people sustained injuries in the incident.

– Heavy rain forced people to wade through the waterlogged streets in several parts of Delhi.

– BJP Councillor Ravinder Singh Negi was seen rowing an inflatable apparatus as a symbolic protest against the Delhi Government in the NH9 area.

– Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena held an emergency meeting and directed officials to set up an emergency control room and deploy static pumps to address waterlogging reports.

– LG directed that all senior officers on leave should be asked to report back to duty immediately and no leave should be sanctioned for the next two months.