JOIN USYear after year, Delhi faces the same problem. Flooded roads throw traffic out of gear and different agencies blame each other for not doing their bit to clean the clogged drains. This monsoon has been no different
Monsoon bring the much needed respite from Delhi’s scorching heat. It also brings with it the menace of waterlogged roads and traffic snarls.
Every monsoon season, the city government and the municipal corporations invariably indulge in a blame game over clogged roads, and Delhiites suffer due to their apathy towards the issue.
Though both the city government and the three municipal corporations have launched a 24x7 helpline for registering waterlogging complaints, Delhiites continue to face hardships due to chocked lanes in their localities.
“Every year the lane outside our house gets clogged during monsoon season. We have complained to the resident welfare association (RWA) many times but in vain. This monsoon when it got clogged we called up the emergency helpline number of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, only to find out that there wasn’t anybody available for removing water as it was a Sunday,” says Kriti Sharma, a resident of Dilshad Garden, Pocket A.
“We got to know that somebody else also complained about the same lane on Saturday but the corporation has been slack in removing the stagnant water from the locality,” the teenager adds.
Commuters faced a hard time during the first spell of monsoon. “I got stuck in jams for three consecutive days earlier this week near Ashram. Waterlogged roads cause traffic snarls but the administration seems to be oblivious of the fact,” says Amit Khullar, who works at ITO.
“It is a perennial problem during the monsoon season but the civic agencies fail to take any concreate step to avoid traffic jams during rains. Traffic jams and waterlogged streets mar the pleasure of pleasant weather during monsoon,” adds Khullar, who lives in Noida.
As Delhiites suffered due to traffic jams, the municipal corporations accused the city government's Public Works Department for the instances of waterlogging being reported across the city.
“Only small drains fall under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations. Almost all the drains along the roads come under the city government's Public Works Department. Now what happens is that the water from small drains goes into the bigger drains. But if the PWD drains are not desilted, the water overflows and causes waterlogging,” says Virender Babbar, a standing committee member of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Shyam Sharma and other civic officials claim to have been carrying inspections during rains. The mayor says that roads belonging to the city government's Public Works Department get “completely flooded” during heavy rain.
“The Delhi government has completely failed in this test,” he says. The mayor has asked the engineering department of the corporation to “work round-the-clock and address the people’s problems related to monsoon”.
Govt directions
Cashing in on the opportunity, the city government directed all the agencies responsible for checking waterlogging to conduct joint inspections and submit reports on action taken on the complaints.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told officials that waterlogging helpline number 1077 must be made functional on a 24x7 basis, the officials reported that it was functioning round-the-clock.
He has sought a separate report from the Delhi Traffic Police about the roads vulnerable to waterlogging and reasons behind this problem. “The reports will be followed up by further immediate corrective measures to minimise the problem of waterlogging in the national capital,” the government said in a statement.
The directions were given by Sisodia at a meeting attended by PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, Water Minister Kapil Mishra and 50 senior officials from agencies like New Delhi Municipal Council, the three corporations, PWD, Delhi Jal Board, Revenue Department, Urban Development Department, Delhi Metro, Delhi Cantonment Board, Irrigation and Flood Control Department and Delhi Traffic Police.
Playing politics
As politics over waterlogging got intense, the city’s Aam Aadmi Party government issued notices to two central government-controlled entities – Delhi Development Authority and public sector company National Buildings Construction Corporation – for obstructing the drainage system and causing waterlogging at the AIIMS flyover and Sarita Vihar underpass.
Sisodia has directed officials to take strict action against any department or individual for negligence of duty. “It was pointed out that waterlogging at and around the AIIMS flyover has been due to the ongoing construction by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC). He directed the SDM of the concerned area to issue challans against the NBCC,” the government said.
Last Monday, the AAP approached Delhi Police seeking an FIR against Gupta for tweeting “misleading” and “false” photos showing waterlogged roads in the city.
In its complaint to the Cyber Cell, AAP's Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey claimed the BJP leader tweeted a photo that showed “false pictures” of waterlogged roads.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta demanded a CBI inquiry into the contracts given by the Delhi government for desilting of drains.
Gupta has been alleging that the Kejriwal government has desilted drains only on papers which “has led to flooding of roads and colonies even during normal downpour”.
“The truth remains that the government has committed gross irregularities in cleansing of drains. The Chief Minister has no time for Delhi and Delhiites since he is more concerned about Punjab and Goa and national issues,” he tweeted.
The Leader of Opposition said that due to lack of desilting, “the entire sewage system has collapsed”.
“The desilting of drains should have been completed much before the onset of monsoon. But it did not happen due to inefficiency and corruption in the government,” he said.
Gupta also alleged that due to the “negligence of PWD” a nine-year-old son of a poor labourer lost his life in May this year by falling into a open drain.
The major “chronic” monsoon flooding spots have not been taken care, claims Gupta. These include MB Road, NHA-8, Wazirpur industrial area, BRT Corridor, Chandni Chowk, AIIMS Flyover, Netaji Subhash Place, Okhla Mandi, Dwrka Link Road and Dhaula Kuan.
As the AAP-run city government and the BJP-run three municipal corporations lay the blame on each other for the monsoon mess, Delhiites continue to suffer like in past monsoons. It’s time they worked in tandem.