Desilting drains ahead of monsoon poses challege to civic body

With the approaching monsoon season, the issue of desilting of drains once again dominated the meeting of North Delhi Municipal Corporation with the Commissioner coming under flak for the slow pace of work.
Leader of the House Mahendra Nagpal, who demanded a detailed debate on the issue, said the speed of work was too slow to meet the deadline of May 31 to remove 13,000 metric tone of silt.
"We have just one super sucker machine being shared for 15 days each by North and South Corporation. Even the suction machines are just five. There is simply not enough time to complete the work before the rains," Nagpal said.

Agreeing with him, Congress leader Mukesh Goel questioned the number of beldaars employed to complete the desilting work.
"For 104 wards, there are just 609 beldaars, which comes to just 4-5 workers for every ward. How are they expected to clean several kilometers worth of drains full of silt and garbage," he asked.
However, Commissioner PK Gupta in his statement said the work will be completed on due date.
"Till now, we have removed 5,000 MT silt out of total 13,000 MT. In the coming 15-20 days, we will go all out to reach our target," Gupta added.
Mayor Azad Singh will hold a coordination committee meeting in the coming week to chalk out a strategy for the coming monsoon season and address the problems that arise during this time.