NEW DELHI: While the Delhi government started working on a ‘world-class’ drainage system early this year, incidents of waterlogging after monsoon showers in the national capital have exposed the poor planning of the administration.
The AAP government has been claiming to have made progress on creating a city without waterlogging but the reality is quite stark as streets in the city were inundated on Wednesday. In July, CM Arvind Kejriwal along with L-G Anil Baijal had held a meeting with top officials of the PWD, MCDs, Delhi Jal Board and the Irrigation and Flood Control department to discuss the vision of providing a “world-class” drainage system to Delhiites.
In the meeting Kejriwal had commended the agencies for finding a solution to the flooding under the Minto Bridge. “I want to congratulate all the officers and engineers. Their work at the Minto Bridge has proven that we have the capacity to curb waterlogging at all the vulnerable points in Delhi,” Kejriwal had said then.
However, even this effort failed to change the situation as the road under Minto Bridge was flooded again and traffic had to be diverted. Due to lack of coordination among various civic agencies, the menace of flooding plagues the city every monsoon. Since July, PWD Minister Satyendar Jain has been directing the officials to be “fully prepared for combating all rain-related problems”.
However, AAP government on Wednesday issued a statement claiming the previous steps taken by it have made the situation better. “It has been raining heavily for two days. Nevertheless, the work done to prevent waterlogging has prevented several problems. Apart from this, flooding was prevented at many places,” said the statement.