Monsoon blame game begins: NDMC mayor says drains not cleaned by PWD

NDMC mayor Preeti Agarwal visited PWD drains at Britannia Chowk, Model Town, Wazirpur Industrial area, Azadpur and Jahangirpuri. She said in a statement that the PWD has not started the work to clean drains and it could lead to waterlogging once the rains arrive.

A fortnight ahead of the Monsoon, the capital’s civic bodies are locked in blame game over the cleaning of drains.

NDMC mayor Preeti Agarwal visited PWD drains at Britannia Chowk, Model Town, Wazirpur Industrial area, Azadpur and Jahangirpuri. (Picture: Sourced)

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation alleged on Tuesday that the Public Works Department (PWD), which comes under the Delhi government, has not even started work to clean drains. In a statement, North MCD mayor Preety Agarwal warned that Delhiites could witness massive waterlogging this year if the situation did not improve.

The statement came after mayor Preeti Agarwal and commissioner PK Gupta inspected six drains, falling under the jurisdiction of the PWD and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department.

“We inspected the PWD drains at Britannia Chowk, Model Town, Wazirpur Industrial area, Azadpur and Jahangirpuri. Their situations were horrible as all were filled with garbage and silt. It seems the concerned departments have not even started the de-silting work here,” Agarwal said.

According to officials, though the NDMC has completed 98 per cent of job, all their work will come to a naught if the PWD does not clean the outflow drains in time.

“Rainwater from our small drains flows into bigger drains maintained by the PWD. If those are not cleaned, the slush will flow back and cause water logging,” the mayor said.

The agency will write to the L-G Najeeb Jung, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and PWD engineer-in-chief about the condition of these drains. “We had written to the PWD engineer-in-chief on June 2 as well and shared the details of 25 points where deep de-silting is required. But even after 10 days the situation is still the same,” said the official. According to him, the six drains visited by commissioner and mayor on Tuesday were among those 25 points.

The North MCD has appointed a nodal officer to review the de-silting work at these drains, twice in a week.

“We are making all efforts to resolve the problem. We are going to share the photos and condition of these drains with the L-G,” the official said. The L-G has formed a committee under the chairmanship of PWD secretary to oversee monsoon preparations.

According to SK Srivastava, engineer-in-chief of PWD, most of the big drains or nullahs in the city belong to Irrigation and Flood Control Department or Delhi Jal Board and not the PWD.

“However, we have completed 75 per cent of de-silting in our jurisdiction and hope to complete the job by June 25. Since we don’t have our own machineries and staff for this, we are dependent on contractors. They sometimes delay the work or leave the work mid-way leading to delays. We had shared all these apprehensions during the meeting with various departments in past,” he said.