With Delhi witnessing repeated thunderstorms and dust storms, with wind speeds crossing 100km/hour in parts of the city, the public works department (PWD) has directed officials to temporarily take down around 500 monumental national flags installed across the capital.As a precautionary measure, PWD has ordered that the flags be taken down. They will be hoisted again once this phase of extreme weather is over and the likelihood of storms decreases. (HT Archive)On Wednesday evening, squalls and rain swept across Delhi, with multiple areas recording high wind speeds. Pusa registered the highest wind speed at 128 kmph, followed by Palam at 120 kmph — the highest recorded at the station since April 27, 2005.The flags are made of polyester to minimise wear and tear, but officials said they are not designed to withstand sustained high-speed winds of the kind witnessed in recent days.A senior government official said the flags had been repeatedly damaged by strong winds over the past week, prompting complaints from several locations, including Sarojini Nagar, Seemapuri, Nand Nagari, Nizamuddin, Shakurpur, Madanpur Khadar, MG Road near Kamla Nehru Ridge, Ashok Vihar Phase III, Malviya Nagar, Dilshad Colony, Naya Bazar Road in Sadar Bazar and Dhaula Kuan.“As a precautionary measure, we have ordered that the flags be taken down. They will be hoisted again once this phase of extreme weather is over and the likelihood of such storms decreases,” the official said.Most of the flags maintained by the PWD measure 35 ft by 50 ft and are mounted on 115-foot-high flagpoles at 500 locations across the city. The flags were installed following the Aam Aadmi Party government’s 2022 ‘Deshbhakti Budget’, which proposed the project as part of celebrations marking 75 years of Independence. They were erected by the end of 2022 and have since been maintained by the PWD.Officials said the project was implemented in accordance with the Flag Code of India, 2002, which governs the display and use of the national flag. Most of the flags have already been removed, they said, adding that fresh flags will be installed and the existing ones re-hoisted once weather conditions improve.