The Delhi Congress on Saturday raised an alarm over the ‘threat’ of water-logging in the city in the upcoming rainy season, as “less than 5 per cent drains under the Public Works Department (PWD) have been desilted so far” against the deadline of June 15.
The AAP Government and BJP-ruled municipal corporations are involved in “blame game” and are passing the buck on one another amid the danger of water-logging in the city is looming large, said Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken.
“The Government in Delhi is paralised due to the fight between the BJP and the AAP and both seemed to have learned no lessons from last year’s deaths of innocent people due to dengue and chikungunya epidemics,” he said.
The number of Chikungunya cases has reached to staggering 96 with 10 of them being recorded this month. Two new cases of dengue have also been registered taking the total tally to 40 in the Capital this year.
Fourteen cases of malaria have also been found this month resulting in 23 this year so far, according to the report of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation which tabulates the data on behalf of all municipal corporations in the city.
“The seriousness of the Delhi government’s preparations to face the rainy season is reflected by the records showing that just 49 of the 327 PWD drains were desilted by May 29,” he said.
Even though the target of desilting of drains is fixed on June 15, the tender for cleaning the major drains in the city was invited on May 29, shows the lack of preparedness of the Delhi government in tackling the monsoon-related problems,” Maken alleged.
“Despite being taken to task by the courts, the Delhi government and municipal corporations have not woken up from their slumber. The water-logging will also invite epidemics like dengue and chikungunya that have emerged as new health hazards in the national capital, he added.