The residents of North Delhi areas may face severe waterlogging and chocked drains this monsoon with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation yet to complete the desilting of drains in all its six zones. Only a month is left for end of the deadline set for it and just over 10 per cent of the work has been completed.
The total length of drains, having depth of less than four-feet, was estimated at 646.092 km but as of now, a mere 65.6 km of them has been covered, according to the details provided in reply to a short notice presented before the NDMC House on Monday by leader of House Mahendra Nagpal and councillors Shyam Bala and Poonam Bhardwaj.
The Sanitation Department admitted in its reply that the action plan required work to commence from August 2012 and end well before the monsoon on May 31, 2013. As far as 229 drains with depth or width more than four feet are involved, the plan was to remove 13387.21 MT silt in the 10 month period.
According to the details available, till date only 4,323.52 MT silt has been disposed off. The performance is particularly dismal in Rohini and Civil lines zones where only seven and 39% of silt has been removed respectively.
On the issue of waterlogging, the Sanitation Department informed the House that since drains near main roads have been transferred to the PWD, it is no longer the responsibility of NDMC. “We are ready to take over these drains if the PWD provides us with a Budget along with it,” said Nagpal.