Delhi: Civic bodies, PWD make drains monsoon-ready

Last year, the desilting of drains by municipal bodies and PWD was delayed by over 1.5 months — starting only towards the end of May — due to the coronavirus lockdown and the subsequent shortage of labour.

To prevent waterlogging during monsoon this year, civic bodies and Public Works Department (PWD) have started cleaning drains alongside roads. Officials of north and south civic bodies said that work has already begun in their areas while it was yet to pick up pace in areas under the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

The delay in desilting last year had led to massive waterlogging in many parts of the city during monsoon. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

While the three civic bodies collectively manage over 400km of small and medium drains along its roads and in residential neighbourhoods, the major drains are mostly managed by the PWD.

Last year, the desilting of drains by municipal bodies and PWD was delayed by over 1.5 months — starting only towards the end of May — due to the coronavirus lockdown and the subsequent shortage of labour. The delay had led to massive waterlogging in many parts of the city during monsoon. In July 2020, a 56-year-old man drowned after his mini-truck submerged under the Minto bridge in central Delhi.

This year, the north and south corporations called meetings on the issue well ahead of the work schedule and officials were told to finish work on getting the drains monsoon ready by the end of May.

“Unlike last year, we have started the process of desilting drains from last week of March. Small drains are being cleaned currently and after this, bigger ones will be taken up. We have set a deadline of May-end to complete the work. Necessary instructions have also been issued to officials in a meeting last week. Our priority is to clean drains before the onset of the monsoon...,” said Jai Prakash, mayor of North MCD.

A senior official of the north corporation said that the civic body manages nearly 192 drains, measuring about 200km, in its jurisdiction. “Desilting of drains was started in March last week. Till Thursday, 13% work has been completed. We are hoping to finish it by May 31 or latest in June first week,” said the official, who wished not to be named.

Normally, monsoon in Delhi sets in by the last week of June.

Officials said that it takes over two months to clean small, medium and large drains which makes it important to start the process in March.

According to SDMC officials, the municipality manages 269 drains measuring 183.75 km in its jurisdiction. “We have already started cleaning of 138 small and medium drains and work on remaining drains will start soon. Till last week, we had completed 20% desilting process and removed 74.25 metric tonnes of silt from drains. Desilting of nullahs, which are deeper than four feet, have also been started. The process will be completed by May 31,” said a senior SDMC official, requesting anonymity.

However, cleaning of drains under EDMC is yet to begin properly.

EDMC mayor Nirmal Jain said, “From next week, we will focus more on desilting work. Small drains are being cleaned but due to coronavirus vaccination and other works, major desilting drive will start from the coming week.”

Officials said that there are over 100km drains spread across roads under EDMC jurisdiction.

Apart from the three MCDs, PWD and some other agencies manage drains alongside roads in their jurisdiction. PWD officials said it manages 2,050 km of drains along 1,260 km of road across 17 divisions in the city.

The officials said that the desilting work had begun earlier this month. “The desilting of drains was started towards the first week of April. It is still in the early stages... We are dedicated to complete the process latest by June 15, before the arrival of monsoon,” a PWD official said.