Only 450m of 1,140m sewer lines laid in Janakpuri, Delhi Jal Board tells NGT

DJB reports only 450m of sewer lines laid in Janakpuri, cites delays due to restrictions, aims to complete by April 30 amid water contamination issues.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB)informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that only 450 metres out of the planned 1,140 metres of sewer lines in Janakpuri’s A1 block have been laid.

(HT)

Citing delays due to the restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), the water board in its submission dated March 3, uploaded on Tuesday, said that they have prepared a new deadline of April 30 to complete the work aimed at fixing the problem of sewage mixing with drinking water in the area.

In it submission, the DJB said the overall progress of the work, as on date, stands at around 40%. “The progress of the work was adversely affected during the period from November 2025 to January 2026 due to the imposition of restrictions under Grap stage III and IV.” it said.

The report added that DJB has deployed additional manpower, machinery and other requisite resources to expedite the work and to compensate for the delay caused due to the said restrictions. “Efforts are being made to complete the work by April 30,” it added.

The NGT is hearing a plea filed by the resident welfare association (RWA) in A-1 Block, Janakpuri, who claimed that they were not receiving fresh drinking water that meets the requisite norms. The plea, filed in February last year, stated that corrosion of old water pipelines might have allowed the sewage to enter the supplied water.

Water samples from the A-1 Block, collected at least thrice by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) during different intervals from June to July had found the presence of both total coliform and E. coli, indicating water contamination.

On March 9, HT conducted a city-wide exercise where water samples were collected from areas consistently recording complaints about contaminated water. The results indicated the presence of E-coli and total coliform in eight of these samples, including a sample from Janakpuri’s A-1 block, where the total coliform was found to be 82 colony forming units (cfu). It should be zero in a 100 mg/l sample.