Civic bodies race against time to clear drains before monsoon

Waterlogged roads disrupting traffic and choked drains overflowing on to the streets. The monsoon in Delhi is not expected to be any different this year.

Waterlogged roads disrupting traffic and choked drains overflowing on to the streets. The monsoon in Delhi is not expected to be any different this year.

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Desilting of drains is a huge task which took the unified MCD eight months to de-silt 60% of the drains and now, with less than two months left for the monsoon, the three new corporations are staring at the impossible task of desilting 40% of the drains.

Councillors, cutting across party lines, have expressed their concern regarding the pending work. The issue dominated the house agenda of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Wednesday.

NDMC councillors demanded installation of more jet pumps to drain out water from the roads. An East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) official admitted that they don't have the requisite manpower to complete the task.

"We are doing our work but there's not enough manpower. The drains which come under Delhi Development Authority and Public Works Department (PWD) are worse. In east, PWD has still not floated tenders for cleaning work," said the EDMC official. A South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) official said they don't have super sucker machines. "We'll be hiring other machines on rent from private contractors to complete the work," he said.

No proper division of machinery and resources among the three new corporations have also delayed the desilting work.