Delhi marks 100 new flooding spots, many along Ring Road
A senior PWD official said the increase of 101 hot spots may be attributed to extreme weather events and multiple heavy to very heavy rainfall spells last year
Delhi has added 101 new sites to its list of waterlogging hot spots this year as the city is bracing to welcome monsoon, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
Now, the total number of waterlogging prone areas in the city has reached 308, according to civic agencies.
Many road stretches in Lutyens’ Delhi such as Kartavya Path (near Boat club), Kautilya Marg, Kemal Attaturk Marg, Panchsheel Marg-San Martin Marg intersection, Rafi Marg (Sunehri Masjid) have been added as flooding-prone zones by the civic agencies, the officials added.
Apart from this, many areas along the arterial Ring Road have also been added to the new potential flooding zones.
The national Capital reports flooding of several key road stretches during monsoon every year with experts blaming factors such as inadequate cleaning of drains ahead of rains, multiplicity of authorities that maintain roads in the city and an archaic drainage for the annual problem.
Officials said the flooding “watchlist” has been compiled based on observation of waterlogging and complaints received by agencies concerned last monsoon.
The sites will be monitored by various road-owning agencies, according to a flood control order issued by the Public Works Department (PWD).
Of the 308 sites — 210 are on roads managed by PWD. Last year, the watchlist comprised 207 locations of which 131 were on roads managed by PWD.
A senior PWD official said the increase of 101 hot spots may be attributed to extreme weather events and multiple heavy to very heavy rainfall spells last year.
“Most of our new vulnerable spots are along the Outer Ring Road, Ring Road, Mathura Road, Rohtak Road, and Bhairon Marg, among others. These stretches pass through most of the areas that got flooded last year and water remained accumulated at these places for several days. We have made several arrangements at these sites,” said the PWD official.
Of the remaining sites, 39 are in areas maintained by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), 17 are under the jurisdiction of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and 16 are under the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Cantonment, ITPO, and other agencies making up the rest.
Vulnerable sites
Officials said that the critical locations are areas that see more than five days of waterlogging during the monsoon season and the list is complied with the help of the Delhi traffic police and circulated to all departments every year.
Last year, Lutyens’ Delhi saw large-scale waterlogging for the first time.
Last July, NDMC received hundreds of waterlogging complaints when the Yamuna flooded leading to several drains facing backflow. Large parts of the New Delhi area — which is also the seat of power for the union government and hosts key ministries, residences of government functionaries, and important institutions — were inundated with images from waterlogged corridors of Connaught Place market, Kartavya Path lawns, and houses of senior bureaucrats going viral on social media websites.
Parts of the city roads along the Yamuna were also inundated as a historic flood saw Delhi’s water level touch a record high of 208.6mm on July 13.
The watchlist has also earmarked several sites around the newly developed Pragati Maidan and its integrated tunnel corridor.
Preparations this year
Civic agencies across Delhi are trying to finish desilting of drains, arrange pumps and finish other repair work by the end of the month before the onset of monsoon. The agencies managing drains in the city including DDA, MCD, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Public Works Department have set June 30 as the deadline for completing the work.
According to PWD officials, 90% work on desilting of storm water drains along its roads is complete and the remaining work is expected to be completed by June 15. PWD maintains a 2,156km drains in Delhi.
“Our existing control room and helpline number has been made functional for 24 hours from June 15. CCTV cameras at all critical locations have been made functional and special arrangements made for avoiding waterlogging during monsoon at all our vulnerable locations,” said a senior PWD official.
Additionally, PWD has earmarked three critical locations that will be monitored 24 hours — Zakhira underpass, Loni roundabout, and Karala-Kanjhawala Road. “We have not been able to make permanent changes, but special temporary measures are in place at all three locations with sufficient pumps and manpower deployment,” the official said.
DDA has planned to set up flood control rooms to be operated round-the-clock during the monsoon. Even though most other civic departments including PWD and MCD have monsoon helplines, DDA, which has a relatively small section of drains under it, is setting up the control rooms in view of increasing complaints from areas such as Narela and Dwarka. DDA manages 295km drains in Delhi.