Parties blame each other for Delhi's monsoon mess

The BJP, Congress and the AAP indulged in the blame game on Saturday as heavy rain inundated many places in the national capital, giving a harrowing time especially to commuters on main roads.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for water-logging at several places in the city.

It said Saturday's mess, caused due to choked sewer lines across the city, was the responsibility of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shanker Kapoor said the Delhi Jal Board was responsible for the choked sewer lines. "Cleaning all major nullahs and trunk sewer lines lies with the Delhi Jal Board which falls under the Delhi government."

"Major trunk sewers are constructed below the roads which are wider than 60 feet. The construction and repair of such roads and cleaning of these trunk sewers is done by the government," he said.

Kapoor said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) looks after the sanitation work on the streets and desilting of rainwater drains which had been done.

"Major sewer trunks are not being cleaned on a regular basis. The employees are not doing their work properly for which the AAP government is responsible. Delhi is clean because of rag-pickers," he added.

The municipal corporations, however, claimed to have desilted all the drains, with 87,201 tonnes of silt lifted from 680 drains till June 30.

"All the drains have been desilted once and about 95 to 100 percent work has been completed. There maybe, however, a few glitches as we cannot control everything," said BJP-ruled East Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Harsh Malhotra.

The Congress party said the choked and overflowing drains, particularly in the unauthorised colonies, exposed the lies of the AAP government in the city.

"Lack of co-ordination among the MCD, PWD (Public Works Department) and the flood department of the Delhi government is responsible for the present plight of the people of Delhi," said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee.

"No desilting of the drains has been done and Delhiites are facing the consequences," she added.

Nand Nagri's municipal councillor Rinku said there was no integrated plan to tackle the rainy season. "Proper desilting of the drains has not been carried out by the agencies concerned, leading to water-logging and overflowing of drains in many parts of Delhi."

The AAP, however, held the BJP-ruled municipal corporations responsible for the sad state of affairs in the city.

"Drains across the national capital are chocked causing water-logging. BJP led-municipal bodies have to clean the drains across the city. They did not do their work properly and blame us for the monsoon mess," said AAP spokesman Deepak Bajpai.

A Delhi government official, requesting anonymity, said the government had already uploaded a plan on its website for desilting of drains three months ago.

"It is not fair to blame the government when the municipal bodies do not do their work properly," he said.

(Ashish Mishra can be contacted at ashish.m@ians.in)