Govt fixes responsibility, blame game on
DELHI CHIEF SECRETARY VIJAY DEV HELD AN EMERGENCY MEETING ON MONDAY ON THE CITY’S MONSOON PREPAREDNESS PLAN
nNEW DELHI: The Public Works Department (PWD), municipal corporations and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) have been asked to identify new waterlogging-prone areas, especially those in proximity to a construction site, the Delhi government said on Monday. A group of chief engineers has also been constituted for the purpose, it said.
The direction came a day after Delhi saw one of its worst rain crisis with several areas being inundated and two people drowning on waterlogged stretches.
Delhi chief secretary Vijay Dev held an emergency meeting on Monday on the city’s monsoon preparedness plan. The chief secretary said that the head of the departments (Hods) of the agencies responsible for tackling monsoon related problems will be held responsible for any lapses, officers who attended the meeting said.
The Public Works Department, the MCDS, New Delhi municipal council (NDMC), Delhi Jal Board, and the revenue and flood and irrigation departments are responsible for cleaning and maintaining roads and drains in the city.
“All agency heads of MCDS,
NDMC, DJB, PWD and the divisional commissioner have been directed to work in unison. A group of chief engineers of these agencies has been formed to jointly inspect all vulnerable points and take coordinated action,” Dev said.
The chief secretary said all the stipulations of the ‘Flood Control Order, 2020’ released on June 26 should be followed without any negligence or compromise. “Directions were also issued that the 24x7 control room must be kept operational at all times without fail. Besides, relief for any loss of life or property must be expeditiously extended, preferably same day,” Dev said.
A senior official who attended the meeting said the incident in which a person drowned in the submerged road under the Minto Bridge on Sunday was also discussed in the meeting. “At Minto Bridge, the problem arose because of an embankment resulting from some construction activity. Apart from engineering solutions, at least four temporary pumps have also been set up there to drain out water,” the official said.
In an interview to HT, Delhi’s PWD minister Satyendar Jain blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Minto Bridge mess. “I think the waterlogging at
Minto Bridge was because the BJP people deliberately closed the drain in front of the BJP headquarters. They had done it last year as well and we had to get it opened up. Why else would the water not drain out despite having four pumps working there?” he said.
RP Singh, national general secretary BJP, refuted Jain’s claim. “These are baseless allegations. The BJP headquarter was constructed only three years ago but waterlogging problem near Minto Road has persisted for long. The truth is that out of five pumps there, only one was functioning. The AAP is in the power in Delhi for the last six years and yet there are 159 places in the city which get inundated every monsoon. They should make water harvesting pits at Minto Road to control flooding. They don’t do their work but blame others for problems.”
The minister said nearly 1,500 pumps – including mobile pumps
– have been deployed across the city to prevent waterlogging.
The political blame game which followed the Sunday’s incidents continued on Monday with Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta holding the Delhi government’s PWD and DJB responsible for waterlogging in the city.
“If the Delhi government had taken its responsibilities seriously in time, then preparations for the monsoon would have been done and no person would have died today nor would the roof have been snatched from anyone’s head. The chief minister is asking to not indulge in blame game, on the other hand his own MLAS are making baseless statements,” Gupta said.
Raghav Chadha, DJB’S vicechairperson and Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Rajendra Nagar, said that the MCDS are yet to complete desilting of all stormwater drains in the city.
“The Delhi government is doing the desilting works of the drains and now the MCDS should also finish their work. At Anna Nagar, the houses that were washed away in Sunday’s downpour were built on the Bjp-ruled South MCD’S drain number 12. Even the Minto Bridge stormwater drain is under the MCD,” Chadha said in a press conference.
Mayor of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Anamika Mithilesh said initially all the staff was engaged in coronavirus related duties but still the corporation floated tenders for desilting process to start the work.
“Entire process was delayed as labourers were not available in the city and our departmental staff such as sanitation workers, DBC workers were busy in sanitisation exercises; collection and transportation of garbage from containment areas. Even the machines such as jetting machine, lifters, tippers were engaged in coronavirus related works. All our drains are clean now and the allegations made by the AAP leader are baseless,” she said.
Jai Prakash, mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said that he conducted an inspection of all the areas on Monday where waterlogging happened and found that ghat drains were not cleaned by the PWD there.
“The PWD did not complete desilting of drains. Most of these are bigger drains and smaller drains of civic bodies discharge water in them. Since these drains are not desilted, the water flows back in MCD drains and inundated the area. Instead of blaming MCDS, the government should do its work properly,” he said.