Monsoon drainage prep in Delhi 92% complete, says PWD

As the nodal agency, PWD will also be writing to other civic authorities to update about the progress in their areas by Monday

The Public Works Department (PWD) on Friday said that monsoon preparation in the Capital, including cleaning and repair work at around 250 waterlogging points, is still a week away from completion.

At Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT PhotoHindustan Times)

Officials said that desilting of drains is around 92% complete, which they said will be done in the next week. This comes after the agency had in the first week of May informed the Delhi government that its monsoon preparations would be completed by June 15.

Meanwhile, as the nodal agency, PWD will also be writing to other civic authorities for updates about the progress in their areas by Monday.

“Around 10 days ago, we got an update from the other agencies regarding monsoon preparations with none of them submitting 100% completion. We will be writing to them again and seeking a response on the status by Monday,” said a senior PWD official.

An official report, tabled during the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) house meeting of councillors on June 8, said that only 55% of its 700 larger drains (measuring more than four feet wide), which span over 453km length, have been desilted.

Additionally, of the 20,884 smaller drains, spread over 6,657km, approximately 72% have been desilted, against the June 15 deadline.

New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) officials also said that it has completed the desilting work along its drains, including the Kushak drain. On Friday, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) stated that work on the 2.5-km-long airport drain, covering areas in Dwarka, is about 95% complete. Officials said the drain is expected to be ready by July and is aimed at preventing flooding around the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

PWD’s desilting plan is being undertaken in two cycles. The first cycle was completed by the end of May and the second phase will be completed by next week, officials said. PWD has a total of 128 pump houses that have over 700 pumps, including 563 permanent water pumps. Of these, 11 pump houses are fully automatic and start operating automatically once the water level rises, with the use of sensors. About 105 pumps were not working till last month and have now been checked, repaired and installed, a PWD official said.

Another PWD official said that the central control room for 24-hour monitoring of CCTV live feed from critical locations has also been operationalised from Thursday and will be functional till September 30. “Following any waterlogging complaints, the control room staff will coordinate with the field units for deployment of mobile pumps, traffic police and district magistrate offices to keep waterlogging in check. Some of the temporary pumps have also been deployed at critical locations where waterlogging has been an issue in the past,” said the official.