Mayors blame Delhi govt for flooding of major roads

The mayors of three municipal corporations today blamed the Delhi government for flooding of major roads in the city after a spell of heavy downpour on Saturday, saying it failed to monitor the work of departments under its jurisdiction which led to the water logging.
The Mayors of North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations - Azad Singh, Sarita Chaudhary and Ram Narayan Dubey - addressed a joint press conference alongside Standing Committee chairmen and leaders of the House of the three corporations.
They condemned the statement made by Minister of Public Works Department, Raj Kumar Chauhan, that the corporations were not cooperating with the government to keep the city clean.

"The Delhi Government first divided the corporation into three parts to weaken the local body and suppress its powers. It has since been trying to limit the corporation's jurisdiction by taking over many departments which are regulated by local civic body in any other state," said a joint statement by the corporations.
"The Delhi government never releases the amount due under various heads forcing us to depend on other agencies," NDMC mayor Singh said, adding that politics was being played on matters of public concern.
"The corporations are not being given funds to improve the sanitation system in the city and they are also facing a shortage of land to develop Sanitary Landfill Sites. It is Delhi Government's responsibility to provide land to the Corporations for disposal of solid waste but despite the continuous requests the Delhi Government has failed to do so," he said.

On water-logging, SDMC mayor Chaudhary said, "This problem is due to Delhi Government's ill-preparedness as the drains falling under the corporations were de-silted well before the rainy season but bigger drains which belong to PWD or Irrigation and Flood Control remain choked, causing areas to get inundated."
Dubey on his part said common people were suffering as a result.
Reacting to the CAG ordering scrutiny on spendings on drainage system, the mayors said most of the areas under probe fall under the Delhi Government and this raises a question mark on the working of it.