Submit timeline for desilting drains, Delhi HC tells chief secy

The Delhi high court on Thursday asked chief secretary Naresh Kumar to file an affidavit indicating the timeline within which the government will complete the desilting of drains in the Capital.
The court asked Kumar to file an affidavit while considering a batch of pleas including its suo motu petition in which the court took cognisance of the water logging problem in 2018.
A bench of acting chief justice Manmohan and justice Manmeet PS Arora directed the chief secretary to prepare a timeline after various lawyers raised concerns regarding flooding of their offices in the Defence Colony area because of the heavy rain.
“These are clogged drains. They (the government) will have to prepare a plan. It’s impossible to deal with. Situation has not improved. Can you give us an affidavit within 2/3 days as to how you would want to desilt the entire city, within what time?” the bench said to Kumar, who appeared virtually.
The high court on April 8 had told the Delhi government to assign the management of all open drains in the city to one agency and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to remove encroachments on the Yamuna floodplains. In the order that aimed to streamline drainage management, mitigate flooding and enhance the water quality in the Yamuna, the court had also directed the government to finalise the Drainage Management Plan (DMP) prepared by IIT Delhi in 2018 and finalise detailed project reports by September 15.
It also instructed DDA to ensure the removal of encroachments on Yamuna’s floodplains. It emphasised green development along Yamuna’s banks, proposing wetlands, public spaces and parks to enhance ecological restoration and public engagement and urged DDA to engage with relevant authorities to address the river’s deterioration for aquatic life and flood management.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in an official statement on July 3 had said that the civic body has desilted an average of more than 100% of the target fixed under phase one of annual desilting plan. A total of 80,690.4 metric tonne of silt had been removed from 713 drains, each over 4 feet in depth, across all zones.
“MCD has achieved an average of more than 100% (103.37%) desilting target set for drains under its jurisdiction, successfully cleaning of 713 drains that are 4 feet and above, spanning a total length of 466 km… the silt is being transported to landfill sites under continuous monitoring,” the statement said.
MCD officials did not comment on HC order.
An official said that the desilting work has been completed by PWD and a flood plan has also been implemented. “We already monitor all waterlogging hot spots regularly and the central control room for 24-hour monitoring of CCTV live feed from critical locations has also been operationalised,” the official said.
During the hearing on Thursday, Kumar submitted that the government will desilt the drains in Defence Colony using super sucker machines on priority. Kumar added that though desilting all the drains in the Capital will take time since the total length of the drains was about 1,000km, the government has already completed the work for around 100km of the sewer lines.
The chief secretary also informed the court that the government had awarded two agencies with the task of preparing a drainage management plan and directed them to give a complete project report. He also said that the government will also assign the management of all open drains in the city to the Irrigation and Flood Controls department, once the monsoon is over.
To be sure, the waterlogging problem has plagued the Capital for decades as the drainage system is unable to keep pace with unplanned construction, and much of its stormwater management features are either blocked or have disappeared, leading to a few hours of heavy rain triggering widespread chaos.
After the heavy rainfall on June 28 following a severe heatwave streak, key areas like Connaught Place, ITO, Vasant Kunj, Greater Kailash, New Friends Colony, Saket and Malviya Nagar were severely waterlogged even as stormwater gushed through gates to enter homes. Large parts of colonies and urban villages were also inundated with knee-deep water in Sarai Kale Khan, Jangpura, Wazirpur, Ashok Vihar, Laxmi Nagar, Dakshinpuri and Paschim Vihar.