Minister inspects Connaught Place flooding site; AAP alleges cover-up in desilting works

The visit came after monsoon-related incidents claimed eight lives in the Capital on Saturday, including seven in a wall collapse in Jatpur and a two-and-a-half-year-old child who fell into an open sewer.

A day after heavy rains flooded several parts of the city, Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Verma on Sunday inspected the repeatedly waterlogged Connaught Place outer circle and directed officials to take additional measures to improve water flow from the key business hub.

PWD Minister Parvesh Verma visited the waterlogging-affected site and reviewed the situation on the ground at Outer Circle, Connaught Place, in New Delhi on Sunday. (Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

The visit came after monsoon-related incidents claimed eight lives in the Capital on Saturday, including seven in a wall collapse in Jatpur and a two-and-a-half-year-old child who fell into an open sewer.

Addressing reporters at Connaught Place, Verma said he had visited the same site late on Saturday night when a 100-metre stretch near the Kake Da Hotel area was submerged. “I did not record any video. I drove myself and was outside this site where a 100-metre stretch was waterlogged,” he said, adding that water had entered some shops during his earlier visit.

Verma attributed the recurring problem to a “century-old British-era barrel drainage system” that had been narrowed over the years due to surrounding construction, restricting natural water flow. “We have asked PWD to conduct a detailed point-by-point study to find permanent solutions to such points,” he said.

The minister claimed that 34 critical waterlogging spots in the city, including Zakhira, Minto Bridge, Moolchand, and ITO, had seen “relatively lesser waterlogging” this year compared to the past decade. Expressing grief over Saturday’s sewer accident, he said, “This is an extremely unfortunate and heartbreaking incident. We are committed to taking all necessary measures to ensure such tragedies never happen again.”

AAP: too late, docs being destroyed

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused Verma of reaching the site too late and alleged corruption in desilting works. At a press conference, AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the minister “woke up 24 hours after the city drowned” and was “looking for potholes” instead of being on the ground when people were dying. “The minister should be visiting bereaved families, not dry roads,” he said, adding, “The same thing happened last time—rain poured all day, and when it stopped in the evening, CM Rekha Gupta went for an inspection. The BJP government has turned Delhi into a joke.”

Bharadwaj also alleged that the government was “destroying documents to hide corruption in desilting works”. Citing an RTI application filed by him, he claimed the Chief Secretary’s office had stated it never received his complaint on the third-party audit of desilting works. “How can the Chief Secretary claim not to have received my letter when copies are with all media? Last year, the desilting audit report was withheld. There has been no audit this year as well. This is a clear attempt to destroy evidence to cover up corruption,” he alleged.

In response to AAP’s allegations, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accused Saurabh Bharadwaj of “politically misusing” and “selectively presenting” court orders. “He cites a 2024 Delhi High Court order to claim the LG and then chief secretary skipped a third-party audit of drain desilting. But is it not a fact that between 2015 and 2018, the Kejriwal government failed to desilt drains, forcing an NGO to approach the High Court?” he said. On Bharadwaj’s claim of writing to the chief secretary seeking a probe, Sachdeva said, “The chief secretary’s office says no such letter was received. AAP runs on social media. They tweet about writing to the LG or Centre, but ‘forget’ to send the letters through official channels.”