New Delhi: With the official date of the arrival of the monsoon in the city just three weeks away, Delhi’s civic agencies are facing a stiff challenge to complete the cleaning of its drainage system and keep it ready to face heavy showers.Data accessed by TOI revealed that Public Works Department managed to desilt nearly 45% of its 2,146km-long network of drainage systems. The irrigation and flood control department did a little better, with close to 68% of the estimated quantity of silt removed from its drains. Municipal Corporation of Delhi also managed to clean nearly 70% of 800 drains, which are more than four feet in depth. While the deadline for the completion of desilting of drains was May 31, Delhi govt extended it to June 15 after assessing that a lot of work was yet to be completed. Senior Delhi govt officials agreed that meeting the June 15 deadline would also be difficult considering the work left, and departments were now targeting June 25 for completing the work. The official date of the arrival of the monsoon in the city is June 28. Though the Met department earlier predicted that the monsoon might hit Delhi a week before the official date, officials now say that it will be on time.The cleaning of the drainage system and removal of silt from stormwater drains is a yearly exercise, which starts in Jan and is targeted to be completed by the end of May. A large number of machines are deployed to clean drains of different sizes and depths, depending on the accumulation of silt in them. Following the instances of waterlogging along several arterial roads across the capital and even in some prominent residential pockets last year, lieutenant governor VK Saxena inspected some of the prominent drains and directed the agencies concerned to begin the desilting work at a war footing.A senior govt functionary said though the agencies should have completed the tendering process in Jan itself and work should have started immediately, the assembly polls in Feb delayed the process. It was only after the new govt was formed that tenders were floated to engage agencies. Sources said before the new govt took over, LG held a meeting with the departments and directed them to start the exercise.“Tenders were floated immediately after the formation of the govt. Some of the companies took the contract lower than the prevalent rate, but they faced the problem of arranging manpower and machinery. All other govt agencies and the neighbouring states started engaging contractors for desilting work during the same time, which led to a shortage of manpower and machinery, and their rates also skyrocketed,” said a senior govt official.On the persistent waterlogging despite desilting work, officials said there were several reasons for that. While the existing drains are not enough to bear the increasing pressure, there is a desperate requirement for implementing a new drainage master plan. There is also a requirement for introducing new technology to clean the portion of the drain below the culvert or main roads constructed over 50 years ago.Govt already engaged consultants to prepare a drainage master plan for the Najafgarh, Barapullah and trans-Yamuna basins, and the reports are expected by June. Even after approval, it will take at least three years to upgrade the city’s drainage system of 1976, which allows Delhi to drain only 50mm of rain in a day.
