NDMC’s ₹1,600cr plan to tackle flooding in New Delhi

NDMC plans long-term action for drainage system to prevent waterlogging in New Delhi. Short-term fixes also in place. Vulnerable areas identified for desilting and maintenance.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has prepared a long-term action plan for its drainage system to prevent waterlogging and instances of flooding that plagued the New Delhi region during monsoon last year, civic body officials said on Thursday.

Large swathes of land were inundated during the floods in Delhi in July, 2023. (HT File)

A senior official said that the agency will also carry out short-term plans to rectify immediate issues within its drainage systems. The official said that the plans were devised after a study conducted by NDMC and will include desilting in the 17 vulnerable areas it has identified.

“We have studied the maximum discharge capacity of drainage systems within the New Delhi area and outlined the key causes behind waterlogging. A total of 14 sub-drainage systems have been marked in the overall system comprising 578km of covered drains, 11,907 manholes and 14,264 bell mouths,” the official said.

A second NDMC official said that the drainage system within NDMC limits is between the Ridge on the west Yamuna on the east and Ring Road on the south. The area on the north of India gate — Connaught Place and the surrounding region — directly reach the Yamuna through the MCD drain systems,” the official said.

“Most of our drainage channels fall into Kushak drain and Sunehari Pulla drain which finally goes to Barapullah before reaching the Yamuna,” the second official said.

Vulnerable areas

According to the plan, the key reasons behind largescale flooding in the region include rapid urabanisation near the Barapullah basin, realignment of drains due to PWD and Delhi Metro work and an inverted elevation level near the outfall of Sunehari Pulla drain.

“Due to the construction of pucca road and buildings in the catchment area, the runoff water reaches the drain rapidly towards the outfall causing the flooding. The immediate outfall at Sunehri Pulla and Purana Quila road is now higher marred by reduced capacity,” the plan said.

The first official said the permanent outfall elevation has led to reduced capacity and the realignment of several drains to carry out civic work now obstructs the free flow.

The drainage plan identified at least 17 vulnerable points in the system including Purana Quila Road, Zakir Hussain Marg, Golf Links, Bharti Nagar, Lodhi Estate, AIIMS underbridge area, Panchkuian Road, and Connaught Place middle circle, among others.

The civic body estimates that around ₹1,600 crore will be spent on the rehabilitation and strengthening work in the drainage sub-system — ₹500 crore each for the two brick barrels. “The work will have to be carried out in many phases. We will also focus on rainwater harvesting in bungalows, augmentation of drain capacities, increasing capacity of pumps and maintenance of outfall junction points,” the official added.

NDMC will set up six control rooms to respond to waterlogging-related issues at Sangli Mess, Khan Market, Netaji Nagar, Malcha Marg, Mandir Marg and Hanuman Road. “Each control room will be equipped with portable pumps, generator sets, trucks and tools with nodal duty officers. Manpower will be deployed on these stations 24x7 to prevent waterlogging,” said Kuljeet Chahal, NDMC council member.