The Public Works Department (PWD) has informed the Delhi Assembly that no audit of the annual desilting work has been carried out in the last 11 years. With multiplicity of the drain-owning agencies and repeated flooding in the Capital during the monsoon season, the desilting of drains has been a major annual controversy.
In a written response to question raised in Delhi Assembly Winter Session, the PWD also provided the details of the desilting work carried out by all its divisions and payments made to the contractor.
North east division has removed 2,778,831 tonnes of silt between 2015 and 2025 for which bills worth ₹18,77,56,204 were paid. The east divisions cleared 289,368.47 tonnes of silt with ₹1,73,560,884 paid. This included the SRD-1 division that cleared 27387.92 tonnes with bill of ₹53,672,442; SRD-2 division that cleared 24,291 tonnes with a bill of ₹128,371,391; C&ND division that cleared 290,104.09 tonnes silt with ₹2,40,14,685.62 bill, and the Shahdara Road Division that cleared 226,759.68 ton with ₹1,50,276,463 in payment.
Overall the East zone has removed 1,162,362.16 tonnes of silt for which ₹717,652,069.6 were paid, the response stated.
Meanwhile, all the divisions under the South zone removed 605,369.83 tonnes of silt with bill paid worth ₹49,12,23,941 during this period. The South zone covers six divisions South 1 and 2, South East 1 and 2 and South West 1 and 2
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, all the divisions under the South zone removed 605,369.83 tonnes of silt with bill paid worth ₹49,12,23,941 during this period. The South zone covers six divisions South 1 and 2, South East 1 and 2 and South West 1 and 2
{{/usCountry}}Thirdly, the remaining divisions – North West-1 road cleared 212,318 tonnes of silt, North West-2 cleared 321,440 tonnes, West Road-1 division 142,411 tonnes; West Road 2 division 219,546 tonnes and North Road division 219,491 tonnes.
Last year, the Delhi government announced that it was restructuring its approach to desilting, shifting towards multi-year contracts (2-year periods) with enhanced accountability measures for contractors to combat persistent waterlogging along with independent audits.
The audit of the desilting had been a major flashpoint between the bureaucracy and former Aam Aadmi Party government since 2017 when MM Kutty was chief secretary and a controversy erupted over the disilting drive. Last year too, AAP had alleged large scale irregularities in the process.