NEW DELHI: Water Minister Atishi on Monday said that she has directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to resolve sewer overflow and take action against the erring officers.
Stating that officials were tasked with keeping a check on sewerage, Atishi said she has been receiving numerous complaints about the outflow.
“I have received various complaints regarding sewer overflow from many parts of the city, which are serious and causing inconvenience to the public. The sewer overflow problem is also causing drinking water contamination, which would lead to a serious public health crisis if not resolved immediately.
In this regard, on August 17, I had written to the Chief Secretary to oversee and resolve any problem related to sewer overflow across Delhi and to take strict action against those officials whose negligence has caused this crisis,” the Minister said CS in a letter.
The minister said the entire government machinery needs to be mobilised to prevent a public health crisis.
“Since sewer overflow can cause a public health crisis, this is effectively a man-made calamity and needs to be treated as such,” she stated.
Atishi suggested that senior IAS officers should be tasked with resolving the sewer outflow.
“Eleven senior officers should be given responsibility for each of the Delhi Jal Board’s 11 circles. A team of officers to be attached to each senior IAS officer who will remain on the field to find short-term and long-term solutions to sewer overflow and water contamination-related issues,” she suggested.
Earlier in the day, Lt Governor VK Saxena directed Kumar to submit a monthly report on inspections conducted by senior officers following deaths due to “complete collapse of civic infrastructure” this monsoon.
Ashish Kundra, the principal secretary to Saxena, in a written communication to Kumar, said the lieutenant governor advised that an “institutionalised mechanism be put in place for scheduled inspections” by senior officers of facilities under their charge. Kundra also pointed out that even the Delhi High Court has taken a serious note in the matter of desilting of drains in the national capital and has made “stinging observations”.
“The LG has observed that this monsoon has seen the complete collapse of civic infrastructure, leading to unfortunate and avoidable deaths of citizens. The underlying problems are symptomatic of endemic neglect,” he said. “Drains have not been desilted for years, sewer lines are choked leading to flooding even in planned colonies,” he added.
According to LG Saxena, all of this points to a “complete absence of senior management oversight” in the city, Kundra’s letter said. Kundra said all head of departments secretaries, principal secretaries, or asditional chief secretaries need to “draw up a schedule of field inspections” and ensure that all areas are inspected thoroughly.