NEW DELHI: After widespread criticism for waterlogging across the city, the Delhi government on Friday directed all the departments concerned to constitute an expert committee and to look into the recurring problem with a holistic approach with both long- and short-term planning.
At a high-level meeting attended by L-G Anil Baijal, PWD Minister Satyendra Jain, Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev, and Commissioners of all three MCDs, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia called for a coordinated approach and suggested that water logging sites be first identified and work be done at micro level to deal with this problem.
The officers were also directed to make short- and long-term planning at the earliest to mitigate the problem. Earlier this year, the PWD and the Delhi Traffic Police had identified 157 vulnerable locations prone to water logging.
In just three days, the PWD received nearly 387 complaints related to waterlogging, 173 concerning potholes, and 88 related to broken and damaged roads. Photos and videos of rains went viral on social media with one showing rain water flowing down in a cascade from an overhead bridge.
Sisodia said that there is a need to identify the places of water logging and work on it at the micro level. The responsibility to mitigate this will be of a primary agency with the rest providing support, he added.
Incidentally, CM Arvind Kejriwal had suggested the PWD be made the core department and other agencies like MCDs, NDMC to report to it for time-bound work without the agencies blaming each other.
Sisodia drew the attention of officials to ITO and National Highway-24 where commuters had a hard with water logging. “Whenever it rained this year, a pond formed near ITO and on the slip road of NH-24. This problem will be solved only when all agencies including NHAI, MCD, PWD will work together,” he asserted.
Heavy rains pounded the city on Tuesday and Wednesday. The intensity of rain was such that on Wednesday, Delhi had received the highest rainfall in a day in September in the last 19 years. Roads were waterlogged with heavy traffic jam and water entered houses.