Desilting of drains to be completed by June 20: Delhi mayors on monsoon preparedness

New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) The work on desilting of municipal drains ahead of the onset of monsoon in the national capital will be completed by June 20, the city mayors said on Friday.

The mayors of the three municipal corporations made the announcement in a joint press conference here held a week after a record rainfall was registered in Delhi.

"All three municipal corporations of Delhi will complete the desilting work of their drains before June 20, before the onset of the monsoon," the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said in a statement jointly issued by the three mayors.

North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash, South Delhi Mayor Anamika and East Delhi Mayor Nirmal Jain addressed the press conference, officials said.

Mayor Prakash said drains belong to mainly five agencies in Delhi, the major drains are of the city's public works department, DSIIDC, Irrigation and Flood Control Department Delhi Jal Board and the municipal corporations.

He said the outfall of small drains of municipal corporations of Delhi are in bigger drains of these departments under the Delhi government. If all agencies worked together before the monsoon, then Delhi can be saved from waterlogging, he said.

Prakash said that there are 192 big drains with a depth of above 4 ft under the jurisdiction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and their combined length is 112.25 km.

The work on desilting of these drains is almost complete. Also, 555 nalla beldars, 16 suction machines, two super-sucker machines and state-of-the-art machines like JCBs have been pressed in for desilting.

He said 8,312 metric tonnes of silt from these drains have been extracted and sent to the Bhalswa landfill site.

The North Delhi mayor said that 515 small drains come under the NDMC with a combined length of 492 km, adding that "so far only 124.34 metric tonnes of silt has been removed from the Public Works Department and sent to the landfill site at Bhalaswa".

Mayor Jai Prakash said that the pumping stations are functioning perfectly on all the rail under bridges under the jurisdiction of the north corporation.

Last year, a massive waterlogging had occurred underneath the Minto Bridge in central Delhi in which one person had lost his life.

Besides this, 127 small portable pumps have been arranged so that they can be used when required, the NDMC said.

A record 119.3 mm rainfall had pounded Delhi under the impact of cyclonic storm Tauktae and a western disturbance in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on May 20, breaking all the previous records for May, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

This was double the previous record rainfall of 60 mm on May 24 in 1976.

Prakash said that the corporation has written a letter to all the departments requesting them to remove silt from the drains in their respective areas so that waterlogging does not occur in Delhi during monsoon and water and vector-borne diseases are prevented.

A list of areas where waterlogging had occurred has been prepared and work on them is done to not let it happen this year, he added.

In order to deal with the situation of waterlogging, the NDMC has set up control rooms in all its six zones and a control room has also been set up at its headquarters, which will function "24x7 throughout the monsoon season".

Prakash requested the Delhi government to make use of this lockdown period and complete the process of desilting from drains that come under its departments so that the situation of waterlogging does not arise in Delhi.

He said that small drains of municipal corporations have outfall in big drains and if the big drains are not cleaned then a situation of waterlogging may occur.

Mayor Anamika said that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has completed 60-65 per cent work on silt removal, adding that she herself had visited the place to inspect the work.

She said that there are 272 drains under the SDMC with a total length of 188.38 km and about 16,000 metric tonnes (MT) of silt have been extracted from these drains.

East Delhi Mayor Nirmal Jain said there are 219 drains under East Delhi Municipal Corporation with a total length of 121 km.

He said that the EDMC has a target of removing 46,000 MT silt from its drains and about 10,000 MT silt has already been removed so far, and the remaining work will be completed by June 20.

He said that the EDMC has made arrangements for 180 small portable pumps, which will be used when required. PTI KND KJ