Experts fear that Delhi may face the worst dengue and chikungunia outbreak this year due to the ongoing tussle between multiple agencies responsible to provide civic amenities in the city. What worries them the most is that with waterlogging being the ‘Achilles Heel’ of the national Capital, the civic agencies responsible for maintaining drains have once again failed to synchroise their efforts to desilt drains before the onset of monsoon.
Drains in the city are maintained by the Public Works’ Department (PWD), Irrigation and Flood departments of the Delhi Government and the three municipal corporations. Instead of desilting drains before the approaching monsoon, authorities remain busy passing the buck to shrug off their responsibilities knowing well that vector-borne diseases proliferate during rainy season as water accumulates in part of the city owing to choked drains.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Preeti Agarwal on Thursday claimed to have desilted 163 drains out of 195 (98 per cent) while remaining 32 drains will be cleaned within a week. The Mayor alleged that the drains under the PWD are in pathetic conditions. “As all the drains of the North Corporation have been merged with PWD drains, many have been found choked. Mosquitoes that cause chikungunya and dengue breed in the stagnant mush,” the Mayor said.
Preeti called an intersectional meeting — attended by officials of various Government agencies such as Delhi Development Authority (DDA), PWD, Flood and Irrigation Department and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) — on Thursday for ensuring better coordination over the issues related to monsoon preparedness.
“A number of issues were discussed to pave the way for cleaning of choked manholes. The mayor also apprised the officials about 25 points that require immediate attention for desilting otherwise North Delhi may have to face lot of waterlogging during monsoon that will further lead to mosquito’s breeding,” she said.
The Mayor inspected various city drains on Tuesday last and had claimed that drains of PWD are yet to be desilted. “City may face waterlogging due to the Delhi Government’s ill-preparedness as the drains which belong to PWD were found choked, which works as outfall for smaller drains of North MCD,” she said.
The Mayor said during the inspection, she found that PWD drain at Azadpur metro Station to Chhatrasal Stadium, parallel to Ring Road, Britania Chowk, G-Block and E-Block in Jhangir puri have not been desilted. While inspecting the drains situated in Wazirpur industrial area, she directed the officials to connect the internal drain to PWD drain for proper outfall of storm water. Also, she asked the officials to write a letter to the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development (DSIIDC) to remove debris from the area which was lying near the drains, causing delay in the desilting work.
A senior official of the North Corporation said, “Neither funds nor resources are being provided to address civic problems in the city. The amount has still not been realised by the Delhi Government as per the recommendations of 4th Delhi Finance Commission
“The Corporation has been approaching various agencies responsible for maintaining the work but despite the continuous requests, the authorities under the Delhi Government have failed to even show a positive sign,” he said.
“Despite several meetings and reminders, the PWD and flood and irrigation departments have not acted to get rid of the silt. Instead of cleaning the drains, the PWD is blaming the MCD for it. The MCD is only responsible for the small drains that have already been cleaned. The main problem is that as the bigger drains have not been cleaned, water starts coming back (into the smaller drains),” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, NMC Mayor called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and sought release of Rs 1616 crore due as per the recommendations of 4th Delhi Finance Commission.
“The Corporation is facing financial crunch in implementing various services. “There are issues like desilting of the drains, prevention of dengue, chikungunya, and malaria need to be addressed before monsoon,” she said.