Waterlogging: HC calls for colour-coded map of Delhi's storm water drains indicating areas they service

The Delhi High Court today asked the municipal and other civic bodies, which manage the storm water drains in the city, to map all such drains indicating the geographical areas they service.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar ordered a "consolidated" mapping of the storm water drains in the city after it was told by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) that different agencies were responsible for each of the drains.

The court said it does not want several plans from each of the agencies and instead called for a single "composite plan".

It also made the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) and the New Delhi Municipal Council a party in the matter and asked them to also join the exercise of mapping the storm water drains and filed a consolidated colour coded map before the next date of hearing on August 17.

Delhi government, meanwhile, told the court that the storm water drains in the city were not designed to handle the amount of rain that inundated some areas, especially under the Minto Road bridge, in the capital recently.

The bench, however, did not accept the argument and said that since waterlogging was a repetitive phenomena, the government should have made efforts to increase the capacity of the storm water drains.

The government also told the court that it has installed water pumps in several areas to address the problem of waterlogging.

The DCB said there was no waterlogging in the areas under its control.

The Urban Development Ministry, represented by central government standing counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, said it was working towards preventing problem of waterlogging.

The court was hearing a PIL initiated by it after taking note of news reports about roads being waterlogged, disrupting traffic across Delhi, after heavy rainfall between July 10-13.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the news reports, the bench had asked the Delhi government and the civic agencies why waterlogging was a recurring problem every time it rains and sought to know the steps taken to prevent it.

It had said that the fallout of waterlogging was not only the loss of man-hours with people unable to reach on time to their destinations, including hospitals, but the idling engines of vehicular traffic would add to the air pollution in the city.

The flooded roads and pavements would also lead to spread of water-borne and vector-borne diseases, the court had said.

The DJB was on the last date asked to explain the manner in which drainage of water takes place in Delhi as well as the date of construction of various drains, including storm water drains, steps taken to maintain them and their efficacy.

The Board in an affidavit placed before the court today, said it was not responsible for management of the storm water drains which are under the control of separate agencies like the different municipal corporations and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department.