Drains in Delhi will must undergo design changes in accordance with suggestions of an expert team from IIT-Delhi to confirm smooth flow of water during and after heavy rains, said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after chairing a review meeting on Delhi Drainage Masterplan on Tuesday.
Today CM Arvind Kejriwal chaired a review meeting on Delhi’s drainage masterplan. Design changes are introduced in drains in accordance with recommendations of IIT. the main focus are going to be to enable smooth flow of water during and after heavy rains. Waterlogging issues be resolved,” said a tweet from the CM’s office after the meeting.
The meeting was attended by water minister Satyendar Jain, vice-chairperson of Delhi Jal Board Raghav Chadha and cabinet minister Vijay Dev.
Citing presentations made during the meeting, a senior government official who attended the meeting said, “The problems were broadly summarised as stormwater drains being employed for sewage; most of those stormwater drains not letting water flow freely because they’re blocked with waste; Network of streams, natural and seasonal water bodies, and concrete stormwater channels have either disappeared, encroached or blocked severely with waste; Delhi’s groundwater recharging area reducing drastically; and engineering flaws in current models.”
The review meeting was held three days after the capital was dropped at its knees by six hours of rainfall, throwing traffic into disarray and inundating several key stretches and underpasses, exposing how badly it needs a comprehensive drainage plan additionally together to make sure that local drains are cleaned prior to monsoon.
On July 19,Kejriwal announced that the Delhi administration will redesign the city’s system and identify waterlogging hot spots in order that area-specific interventions may be made to confirm smooth flow of traffic. The announcement came the day a person drowned within the submerged Pul Prahladpur underpass — one amongst the perennial problem points — and a minimum of 39 key road stretches were flooded after heavy rain.
The last drainage programme was drafted by the Delhi administration in 1976. To be sure, Delhi was administered by a metropolitan council between 1966 and 1990. In 2016, the Delhi government commissioned a study of the city’s system by IIT-Delhi. Following the study, a drainage plan was compiled which also observed that town had no single agency to manage and maintain drainage. However, the plan couldn’t be implemented.
