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Walia concerned over de-silting work in Delhi

Staff Reporter

Minister writes to MCD Commissioner

NEW DELHI: With the Municipal Corporation of Delhi having de-silted only about 68,000 tonnes of silt so far against the target of 4 lakh tonnes before the onset of monsoons, the Public Works Department and the Urban Development Minister, A.K. Walia, on Thursday expressed concern over the issue.

Following a review of the de-silting work, Dr. Walia found that the response of the MCD has been "lukewarm'' in de-silting its 1,265 drains. While only 69 have been de-silted so far, work was in progress on 337 others.

Worried that at the present speed the MCD would not be able to complete the de-silting process before the monsoon causing irreparable loss to main PWD roads and leading to excessive water logging and inconvenience to the people, the Minister has sent a letter to MCD Commissioner A.K. Nigam seeking his intervention in the matter. Dr. Walia has also expressed surprise that the MCD has not been able to start de-silting process in those 166 drains which were transferred by the PWD to it for providing a better management system and avoiding shifting of responsibilities. The Minister said he has also decided to personally inspect drains of all the 12 zones of the MCD and would visit different drains in the first week of June to mount pressure on the Corporation to complete the entire de-silting exercise by the third week of the month. The expected date of arrival of monsoon in Delhi is June 29. During the review meeting, it was informed that for undertaking de-silting work the MCD has deployed its own staff and engaged contractors. But it is yet to deploy the super sucker machines properly for the purpose. As for the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control, it was pointed out that it is supposed to de-silt only 16 of its 63 drains in Delhi. And while de-silting has started in 11 drains and entire exercise would be completed before the rainy season.

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