Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar has directed all the departments concerned not to make payments to contractors engaged for desilting of drains unless a third-party audit of such work is completed.
The move has come in the wake of the tragic deaths of three civil services aspirants after water from a flooded drain gushed into the library of the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday.
In reply to a note written to him by Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, the chief secretary said that the additional chief secretary (urban development) has been directed to provide a factual note along with information sought by the minister over third-party audit of desilting of drains by various agencies.
The Urban Development Department wrote to all the departments on May 27 for third-party audit of desilting work, in compliance of high court order.
Kumar said that all the departments concerned have been directed not to release any payment to any contractor engaged in desilting of drains unless such work is duly verified through third-party audit.
Bharadwaj in a note to the chief secretary on Tuesday sought explanation on his claim of pending decisions related to drainage in the city.
Kumar in reply to a note of Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj requested him on Tuesday to move the file on drainage plan recommendations for Delhi, including need of a ‘Storm Water and Drainage Act for Delhi’ so that draft of the legislation could be initiated by the Irrigation and Flood Control department.
The recommended ‘Storm Water and Drainage Act’ for Delhi is proposed to have provisions for penalties on encroachment, dumping of construction, municipal and industrial solid waste in the city’s drains.
The chief secretary in his note to Bharadwaj, who is also Irrigation and Flood Control minister, said that the file was pending with him since August 2023.
Citing a MCD report on the Rajinder Nagar incident on Saturday evening, Kumar said, “The photos of the site of the unfortunate incident shows as to how storm water drainage system at that place was encroached by the owner/occupier of the building.” Such a situation exists in whole of the city. “In the absence of legislative framework namely ‘storm Water and Drainage Act for NCT of Delhi’ such widespread bockage in the storm water drainage system could not be controlled,” said the chief secretary.
Due to this problem whenever there is heavy rainfall in Delhi, many places in the city get flooded, he said.