The national Capital braces up for the monsoon season to prevent the massive water-clogging, unending traffic snarls and disease outbreak with the multiple bodies including the Delhi Government’s Public Works Department (PWD), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Irrigation and Flood Control Department and Delhi Traffic Police in the field.
Around 370 places have been identified as the point of clogging that need attention as the moist and rainy monsoon arrived in the city. Delhi Government has identified 370 locations which need major repairing ahead of the monsoons. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government in coordination with the three MCDs and Delhi Traffic Police have marked 27 critical flashpoints that need to be cleared to prevent water-clogging and simultaneously traffic congestion of the roads.
“We are ready with the monsoon preparedness essentially cleaning of drains. About 370 places identified and 27 places have been marked as the critical flashpoints. The latter are the places which are so bad in shape and low lying that even a bus can drown,” Delhi Government official told The Pioneer.
He said that the agencies will look into road repair, pumping infrastructure and services would be used to cross verify ground reality. “After clearing drains, the idea is to keep the pumping infrastructure in fit and healthy condition. Usually, we have noted that in just 15 minutes after rains, the roads in Delhi get congested. These pumps never start on time thus we will ensure prevention of the last minute glitches,” added the official.
Among the critical flashpoints, Zakhera underpass, Pulprahladpur and ITO are also included.
Earlier, a High level Coordination Committee including the multiple bodies was set-upto to supervise de-silting of drains and cover open manholes to ensure monsoon preparedness. lieutenant-Governor, Anil Baijal chaired a meeting to review the desilting of roads and gave directions to sensitise concerned engineers as well as citizens to collectively manage the monsoon mess in the city.
He directed that the drains must be properly connected to sewage lines so that there is proper discharge of water in the sewage system.
While Baijal instructed the proper cleaning of all drains, which come under PWD, the officials of the department said that the fact is that the Delhi drainage system is in “pitiable position”.
They blamed the encroachment and urbanisation for blocking the natural flow of water leading to the water clogging across the city.
“Even if we are prepared, every year there are some failures in preventing the monsoon clogging. Earlier there was a natural flow of water but with the rise of new colonies, encroachment and urbanisation in the form of shops, buildings, the natural drainage cannot resist it beyond. Even cleaning gets affected as there is no smooth flow of drain outlets. We need super-sucker machines clearing drains,” said a senior officials of the PWD.
Baijal has also asked for a feedback mechanism “Whereby the public is able to send pictures of the places wherever water logging takes place”.
The Governor also instructed that all revenue officers, District Magistrates and Sub-Divisional Magistrates shall inspect and see the status of de-silting, availability of pumps in working condition. “Revenue officers will coordinate with the civic agencies and PWD,” he instructed.
The Government said that even they would visit to do ground reality check. “The third party services would be used to cross verify ground reality. We would also hit the ground but not all places could be checked but random visits are possible.”
While the preparations are in full-swing, it is a routine every year for multiple agencies to blame each other in case of fiasco on the roads during peak of monsoon. Whether the rains are going to be heavy or moderate, the complexity of multiple stakeholders in managing the huge traffic in the city makes it all the more difficult.
Recently, AAP leader and Greater Kailash MlA Saurabh Bharadwaj posted on twitter a picture of a garbage filled drain in South MCD which he claimed was “100 per cent” clean on paper. He said that it was found on a joint visit of the petition committee along with officers of MCD and PWD “where they blame each other”.
“Every monsoon, MCD & PWD blame each other. Today we visited areas of South MCD. Monday is turn for East MCD, then North MCD on Tuesday (sic),” he tweeted.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday wrote to the Chief Secretary demanding action against PWD Principal Secretary Ashwini Kumar. Kumar in his reply said rather than playing a “negative role” the Chief Minister should back the efforts underway to clean the drains and “suggest solutions” if he has any.
“Desilting the drains in the city is nothing but removal of garbage. It is a collective task, manpower has been deployed and officers are on the job. All work is continuously assessed”, said Secretary, PWD in response to the Chief Minister’s letter.