Indian MPs reach parliament with their trousers rolled up, shoes in hands as Delhi goes underwater

Indian parliament members on Friday (28 June) had to roll up their trousers and carry their shoes in hands on their way to the parliament for the 18th Lok Sabha session as most posh areas of Delhi, home to several ministers and MPs, went underwater following heavy rainfall.

Many took to social media to share waterlogging outside their residence and how they navigated the inundated roads, reports NDTV.

In a post on social media X, formerly known as Twitter, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said he "wouldn't be able to make it to Parliament without a boat".

Sharing visuals of waist-deep waterlogging outside his residence, the minister wrote on X, "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.

"Apparently the storm water drains in the neighbourhood are all clogged so the water had no place to go. And they switched off the electricity since 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," he said.

In another post, in which he shared a video of a road towards AIIMS where cars were seen completely submerged in water, and trucks and buses barely visible, he wrote, "Now on my way to the airport to fly to my constituency for the weekend as usual. This was our usual route, which we avoided today." Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena took stock of the situation and ensured speedy action to deal with the issue, Mr Tharoor claimed.

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

"He 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," he wrote.

Meanwhile, Congress MP from Chandigarh Manish Tiwari posted a video of him heading for Parliament with his shoes on his hands and his trousers rolled up while walking through the accumulated water inside the premises of his residence.

"On the way to Parliament in the morning," he captioned the video.

In a photo shared on social media, the lawn of his residence was seen having turned into a pool due to the heavy rains.

Rain water also accumulated inside the premises of Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav's residence at Lodhi Estate. The MP, dressed in white kurta-pyjama, had to be carried with the support of two people to his car to help him leave for a meeting, the NDVT also reported.

AAP leader and Delhi water minister Atishi's residence at Mathura road was also inundated following the heavy rains that lashed Delhi in early hours of the day.

On Friday, a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address was scheduled for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Heavy rainfall and winds also brought down a roof at the main airport in New Delhi on Friday, killing one person and shutting down a busy domestic terminal, while flooded streets and traffic snarls caused widespread disruption in the Indian capital.

About 148.5 millimetres (5.85 inches) of rain fell over three hours on the airport area in the early morning, more than the average for all of June, according to the national weather office.

Delhi's main Safdarjung weather station recorded 228.1 mm (9 inches) of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8:30am (0300 GMT), its highest 24-hour rainfall in June in 88 years.