Covid-19 puts desilting of drains, sewer lines on hold

New Delhi:

New Delhi:

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A severe shortage of labourers owing to the Covid-19 outbreak in the city has put essential maintenance and repair works — such as desilting of drains and sewer lines — in the city on hold.

Work on desilting of drains and sewer lines — an important part of the monsoon preparedness plan of the government and the civic bodies — usually begins by March end and is completed by the first week of June.

Major drains across the city are cleaned by the Public Works Department (PWD), while drains laid alongside internal roads and lanes are cleared by the municipalities.

Officials of the PWD and civic bodies confirmed that desilting process of drains across the city is yet to start because of lack of adequate workforce.

All the agencies have to finish desilting of drains by the first week of June before the monsoon sets in the city.

A senior PWD official said that the lack of availability of labourers have delayed the process, which should have begun by the end of last month.

“Normally the desilting process of big drains take around 2.5 months. We keep two deadlines for the process, May 31 and June 15, to ensure that drains are cleaned before monsoon hits the city. But this year the process is yet to begin due to restrictions amid the pandemic that is raging in the city and the resultant scarcity of workforce,” the official said.

According to PWD officials, the department manages around 1,700km length of drains along 1,260km of road across 17 divisions in the city. The officials said that around 1,200-1,500 labourers are engaged every year in the desilting process. This year, the workforce has drastically gone down.

“Our estimates say that the workforce has gone down by over 50%. Contractors are unable to bring labourers as they have gone to their hometowns due to the pandemic. Many of those who had gone to their villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to celebrate Holi have refused to return. Hence, getting labourers for the desilting process is a tough task. We are hoping that things will become normal after May 3,” the PWD official said.

He added that after April 20, the department will ask details from contractors about the available workforce and start issuing curfew passes to start the desilting work.

A similar problem of scarcity of labourers is being faced by the civic bodies too. They also have departmental staff for desilting purposes who at present are involved in Covid-19 control measures. The municipalities, however, said they might start desilting process from next week.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) mayor Sunita Kangra said all her staff is engaged in Covid-19 related duties but still the corporation would float tenders for desilting process next week.

“Labourers are not available in the city and our departmental staff ,such as sanitation and DBC workers, are busy in spraying disinfectants along with collection and transportation of garbage from containment areas. Even the machines — such as jetting machine, lifters, tippers — are engaged in Covid-19 related work. So desilting process couldn’t be started. We will float a tender next week and try to complete the process before June,” she said.

Avtar Singh, mayor North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said that small drains are being cleaned but that is not enough. “I will convene a meeting with the municipal officials and the sanitation employees later this week to discuss the issue. Hopefully we will start desilting process properly from next week,” Singh said.

A senior official of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation said, “We are not only short on workforce but are also cash strapped. We are working with limited staff as sanitation employees above 55 years age are on leave due to safety reasons.”