Delhi HC queries state govt on hurdles to Drainage Master Plan

New DelhiThe Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to list the impediments it is facing in implementing the Drainage Master Plan, observing that its execution is the only comprehensive solution to waterlogging problems affecting several colonies across the city

New Delhi

A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet PS Arora, in its November 5 order, noted that several authorised localities, including Maharani Bagh, Defence Colony, Green Park, Mundka, Shahdara and Sriniwas Puri, have been grappling with problems of waterlogging, sewage backflow and overflowing drains. (Representative photo)

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to list the impediments it is facing in implementing the Drainage Master Plan, observing that its execution is the only comprehensive solution to waterlogging problems affecting several colonies across the city.

A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet PS Arora, in its November 5 order, noted that several authorised localities, including Maharani Bagh, Defence Colony, Green Park, Mundka, Shahdara and Sriniwas Puri, have been grappling with problems of waterlogging, sewage backflow and overflowing drains.

“The court is of the opinion that the integrated master drainage system called ‘Drainage Master Plan’, which is under contemplation by the GNCTD, would be the only solution to all these issues faced by various colonies... The issue is not, therefore, colony centric but is an issue that deserves to be resolved at a much higher level so that the drains in the entire state are properly networked and managed on a regular basis,” the court said, in its order released on November 10.

The court issued the direction while hearing an application filed by the Maharani Bagh Co-operative House Building and Welfare Society, seeking directions to the authorities to conduct a joint inspection of the stormwater drain and assess sewage inflows from Sriniwas Puri, IG Camp and Taimoor Nagar.

The society submitted that a recent spell of rainfall had resulted in sewage backflow into Maharani Bagh colony, necessitating urgent intervention by the authorities.

Delhi Jal Board’s lawyer submitted that it was coordinating with a special task force to block multiple sewage outlets originating from JJ camps maintained by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

The DJB alleged that unregulated sewage outlets were being created in these JJ camps during the construction of toilets and other facilities, with such outlets directly connected to stormwater drains. This, it submitted, was resulting in sewage backflow and the discharge of untreated sewage into the stormwater drainage network.

In its order, the court also directed that the master plans for both stormwater drains and sewage drains be placed on record before the next date of hearing, along with status reports from the agencies concerned, namely the Public Works Department (PWD), irrigation and flood control department (I&FCD), and DJB.

It also directed DUSIB to place on record a report on the various discharge points through which untreated sewage is flowing into the Taimoor Nagar drain, and the possible installation of septic tanks or some other mechanism to ensure that these outlets are stopped from discharging into the Taimoor Nagar drain.