New Delhi, July 28 - The Delhi government's claims of making the national capital a world class city before Commonwealth Games 2010 lay hollow as thousands of commuters struggled late Monday amid the heavy downpour leading to water logging and huge traffic snarls. However, as before, various government departments blamed one another.

Despite a sum of Rs.200 million being spent for desilting 1,500 drains across the city ahead of the monsoons, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was hard pressed for an explanation as almost all roads were waterlogged Monday, and key underpasses remained flooded Tuesday morning.

The city's mayor Kanwar Sain simply apologised to residents for the harrowing time they faced and assured them things would be back to normal soon.

'We have made all arrangements to see the city was prepared for the monsoons. But problems increased following construction work of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi Jal Board, Public Works Department (PWD) in various parts of the capital. I am personally looking after the clearing-up process and things will be normal in the next three hours,' Sain told IANS late Tuesday morning.

But much after the rains had subsided, there were still serpentine queues in many parts of the city including Minto Road, Palam, Dwarka, Badarpur, Moolchand, Nehru Place and Patel Nagar as commuters braving waterlogged roads struggled to reach their workplaces Tuesday.

Sain further said he had written letters to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Police, Delhi Government and the DMRC to ensure that areas under their control were cleared of rainwater soon.

'It is true that drains in some areas were blocked and we are trying to fix the problem,' admitted Sain.