Afternoon rain multiplies Delhi's woes amid flood, main roads still inundated

Parts of the national capital received light rainfall on Friday afternoon, adding to the woes of the people as the city grapples with a flood-like situation following the overflowing of the Yamuna river.

The rain was recorded in Laxmi Nagar areas and a few areas in east Delhi.

Other areas, including Lutyens' Delhi, witnessed a drizzle.

The regional weather forecast centre in the national capital had tweeted around 10 am that "light intensity rain/drizzle would occur over and adjoining areas of Delhi (Jafarpur, Nazafgarh, Dwarka, Palam, IGI Airport, Ayanagar, Deramandi), NCR (Gurugram) Gohana, Sonipat (Haryana) Moradabad, Bahajoi in the next two hours."

The India meteorological department also forecast a generally cloudy sky with light rain in the national capital.

The maximum temperature in the city is likely to settle around 34 degrees Celsius.

Floodwaters of the overflowing Yamuna reached the entrance of the Supreme Court in Central Delhi on Friday as the regulator of the Delhi irrigation and flood control department at Indraprastha suffered damage on Thursday evening.

After breaching a 45-year record three days ago, water levels in the Yamuna in New Delhi came down to 208.35 metres at 11 am on Friday even as several key areas in Delhi remained inundated. 

Many companies in the National Capital Region have asked employees to work from home amid massive traffic snarls due to waterlogging and flooding in and around Delhi.

Heavy downpour in Delhi and its neighbouring states, and record levels of water in the Yamuna, have pushed many localities into waist-deep water, throwing normal life out of gear over the past few days.

Ankit Agrawal, founder and chief executive officer of InsuranceDekho, which has implemented flexible working options for employees, said, "Understanding the challenges faced by our workforce, we have implemented work from home or flexible work options to ensure employees' convenience and uninterrupted productivity, while keeping them safe."

Market watchers pointed out that while flexi work options were put in place at the onset of the pandemic, some tech companies continue to allow staff to operate in hybrid mode even now.

Rohit Kataria, chief sales and strategic officer of Echelon Edge Pvt Ltd, said, "Hybrid work model is successful, especially in places like Delhi-NCR where chaotic traffic is common. Amid an advisory due to rising water levels across the city, working from home is the best option for employees and employers alike."

Several business leaders expressed concerns over the infrastructure in the national capital.

Work flexibility and remote working should not be mixed with poor infrastructure, CEO of Gurugram-based field services management company FieldWeb, Amit Dhawan, said.

“Modern businesses believe in giving flexibility to their teams for encouraging an ownership mindset. Having said that, one should not conflate work flexibility and remote working scenarios with shoddy city/local administration and poorly managed infrastructure that compel individuals to work from home," he said.

Sumit Sabharwal, CEO of TeamLease HRtech, said responsible organisations prioritise employee safety, hence facilitating work from home in extreme weather conditions is a wise decision.

“Temporarily transitioning to work from home shouldn't cause any dip in productivity if companies are already managing their HR, sales, marketing, and other operations through cloud-hosted, SaaS-based platforms," he said.

Jayati Pardhy, head HR of payroll solutions platform Keka HR, agreed.

“The strength of a business lies in its ability to endure and its resilience to adapt and thrive amidst adversity. At Keka, we believe in the power of technology to safeguard and ensure continuity during such challenging times,” she said.