Delhi: Tall claims by civic bodies down the drain, yet again

Be it hours of rains or a 10-odd minute heavy shower, most areas of Delhi often look like they could use an ark after a downpour in the city.

Be it hours of rains or a 10-odd minute heavy shower, most areas of Delhi often look like they could use an ark after a downpour in the city.

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The civic body officials in most cases are left speechless.

“They should take a break from indulging in blame game and take concrete steps instead. Every time it rains, there is waterlogging. And then, corporations blame PWD and vice-versa. This should stop. And false claims shouldn’t be made. Every year they claim 100% desilting has been done. After desilting, the muck is left out in the open. When it rains, the silt goes back to the drains, which chokes them and causes waterlogging,” BS Vohra of the East Delhi RWAs Joint Front told Hindustan Times.

The city’s drainage system, which needs a major overhaul, has not been cleaned, claimed residents. Apart from this, huge sections of the city have old drains, which have much lesser capacity than required. When there is more force of water, they often get blocked.

“The water from the colonies go to the civic body drains and then to the PWD ones and finally after passing through the irrigation and flood department drains, flow into the Yamuna. If any one point in this channel has a glitch it is bound to create problems,” said Ashok Bhasin, president of North Delhi Resident Welfare Associations.

The action plan and desilting strategy chalked out by the civic bodies is a bubble which bursts with every shower.

Saturday’s showers yet again proved that something concrete needs to be done by the agencies responsible to make residents enjoy the shower and not be terrorised by the thoughts of clogged streets and drains.