HC takes up issue of de-silting drains as rains hit Delhi

With the rains hitting the national capital, the Delhi High Court today directed all the municipal corporations and the Delhi government to indicate whether the drains in the city have been de-silted to ensure roads and colonies are not flooded.
A bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and A K Chawla took up the issue as a PIL after coming across a media report which said that several sewage and storm-water drains in the city have not been de-silted.
The article also said that where de-silting has taken place, the waste or the rubble from the drains have been left on theeir side and not taken away to a landfill site.

The news report also carried photographs of the de-silted material lying along side the drain, the court said.
The bench issued notice to the Delhi government, the three corporations, the Delhi Jal Board and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department and sought their reply by June 28 on the PIL initiated by the court on its own.
It directed the authorities to file affidavits indicating the number of drains in their jurisdiction, steps taken for de-silting and clearing them to ensure free flow of water and sewage as well as photographs of the current status of the drains.
When the bench was told that a similar plea regarding clean up of drains was being heard by the National Green Tribunal for some time, the court remarked "nothing seems to be happening".