SDMC discusses desilting of drains

With barely a month to go before the onset of monsoons, the issue of desilting of drains dominated the house meeting of South Delhi Municipal Corporation, with councillors expressing concern at the slow pace of work and fear of waterlogging during the rainy season.
Commissioner Manish Gupta has since been directed by Mayor Sarita Chaudhary to ensure appointment of additional cleaning staff to complete the task within 15 days.
Replying to a short notice by Leader of the Opposition Farhad Suri, the house was informed that out of a total 25,623.12 MT of silt to be removed till July 31, 20,475.07 MT has been removed till the end of April, leaving about 20 per cent of work incomplete.

The situation varies in the four zones of the corporation, with almost 30 per cent work left in Najafgarh zone. In Najafgarh, South and Central zones, 28 per cent, 12 per cent and 16 per cent desilting work is left respectively.
In a two-and-a-half hour discussion on the issue, several councillors complained about clogged drains that come under the municipal corporation as well as the ones along roads wider than 60 feet that are in the ambit of PWD.
"We are cleaning the small drains while the big ones under PWD remain clogged," said BJP's Satish Upadhyay.

On the other hand, Congress' Virender Kasana alleged that in the areas where PWD has desilted the drains, the BJP ruled civic body is not allowing dumping of the silt in its landfill site.

"The BJP does not want that the silt be removed from these areas so that it can defame the Delhi government later for not doing its job of cleaning the drains. Why cannot PWD use the landfill sites of the corporation?" Kasana asked.
However, Leader of the House Subhash Arya blamed the Delhi government for lack of space in the landfill sites, with the present sites having already exhausted their capacity. "We have met the Delhi government officials and Lieutenant Governor several times for new sites but to no avail," he said.
Mayor Chaudhary, at the end of the discussion, directed the Commissioner to co-ordinate with related agencies like PWD, DJB among others and conduct weekly review meetings with them to ensure the desilting in completed before the monsoons.