PWD, municipal bodies pass the waterlogging buck

Weeks after these civic bodies had underlined their preparedness for the monsoon, officials from the PWD as well as the corporations conducted rounds on Saturday, inspecting the extent of waterlogging.

[related-post]

“Most of the areas that saw water-logging was due to the PWD’s laxity. It did not de-silt the drains which serve as an outfall to the municipal drains. I had written a letter to the chief minister, stating that departments under his control are not serious about arrangements for monsoon but he has not paid any heed to the issue. As a result, there is water-logging at a number of places. This has put lives of Delhi residents out of gear,” North Municipal Corporation Mayor Ravinder Gupta said.

South corporation officials also blamed the PWD. “Most waterlogging cases can been seen on the main roads, for which the PWD is responsible. The streets in colonies come under the municipal corporations. It is obvious that de-silting work was not carried out by the PWD,” a senior corporation official said.

The PWD said the process of de-silting drains was completed a month ago. “It would have been completed earlier but we faced some issues in East and North Delhi owing to the sanitation workers’ strike. With large quantities of garbage getting accumulated due to the strike, a lot of it clogged the drains. We had to clean these drains again even though their de-silting had taken place,” an official said.

Officials also maintained that the amount of waterlogging that Delhi witnessed on Saturday was “considerably less”.

“Only a couple of areas around Mayapuri, Rajouri Garden, Naraina and Dhaula Kuan faced issues. There were small pockets of waterlogging because of local issues. In some parts such as Vikaspuri, waterlogging took place because the Delhi Jal Board’s sewer lines were overflowing,” a senior PWD official said.

Worst-hit areas

South Delhi
40 locations under its jurisdiction saw water-logging, including Najafgarh, Shyam Vihar, Palam Extension, Kakrola, Lajpat Nagar, CR Park, Kalkaji

North Delhi
20 spots identified, including Rana Pratap Bagh, Paharganj, Rohini and Pitampura

East Delhi
Waterlogging in areas such as Mayur Vihar Phase III and Geeta Colony