Dy CM Manish Sisodia holds a review meeting with PWD officials to take stock of preparations
Micro-level planning by Kejriwal govt to solve water logging; preparations will be completed before the monsoon, any laxity by officials will not be tolerated: Dy CM Manish Sisodia
Kejriwal government is ready with an action plan for places with severe waterlogging issues in the capital; construction of sump, storm drain, high-capacity pump houses in progress
Underground sump of 7.5 lakh liters capacity, 600 horsepower permanent pump house will provide relief to commuters from waterlogging in monsoon at Pul Prahladpur underpass
Minto bridge to be equipped with an automatic pump to prevent waterlogging, stormwater drain, and 1.5 lakh liter sump to be constructed on IP Estate Ring Road
New Delhi:
To deal with the menace of waterlogging during the monsoons, the Delhi government, under the leadership of CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, is making preparations on a war footing. In this regard, the Public Works Department (PWD) has identified various hotspots of waterlogging in the capital and has been working to prepare such infrastructure, which will prevent waterlogging in the future. On Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister and PWD Minister Shri Manish Sisodia held a review meeting with PWD officials to take stock of the preparations and directed the concerned officials to take all preventive measures by the end of May to prevent any inconvenience to the public. Along with this, he also reviewed the progress of various ongoing projects.
It is important to mention here that, unlike every year, Delhi had received up to 110 mm rainfall per day, last year, which led to serious waterlogging issues in many areas. For this, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had directed all the concerned departments including PWD to prepare short-term and long-term strategies to prevent waterlogging in the future. Given this, PWD has identified 147 hotspots of waterlogging and has started working on them.
Kejriwal Government’s action plan to prevent waterlogging
Pul Prahladpur Underpass – Many water logging incidents were reported from here last year. This year to prevent any such situation, PWD is constructing an underground sump of 7.5 lakh liters capacity and a permanent pump house of 600 horsepower. The construction work of the underground sump and pump house will be completed by the end of May. Along with this, 7 temporary pumps will also be installed here, which will have a total capacity of 500 horsepower.
Under Zakira Flyover – During monsoon, waste from temporary drains built by railways blocks the underpass. Due to this the water pumps get clogged and cause waterlogging in the area. Here the PWD screen will be installed to stop the waste from the railways and the work of modification of the drain in the area around the Zakira underpass is also going on at a fast pace. Also, the storm drains coming from Nehru Nagar/Anand Parvat will be rerouted.
IP Estate Ring Road, Opposite WHO Building – To eliminate the problem of waterlogging on Ring Road, 9 pumps will be installed here as well as PWD will construct a 1.5 lakh liter sump and stormwater drain from the old IP power plant to the Yamuna. This construction work will be completed before the monsoon.
Jahangirpuri Metro Station Road – Action plan of PWD to prevent waterlogging here includes the construction of a drain along with service road, reconstruction of old SW drain between the main road and Mukarba Chowk bound, along with the main road towards Ramgarh and Mahendra Park, etc. Remodeling of SW drain and construction of permanent pump house is also included.
Minto-Bridge – Till a year ago, even if there was less rain, the situation of water logging used to arise under the Minto-Bridge. To overcome this, many permanent steps were taken by the Kejriwal government last year and despite the unexpected rains, people did not face water-logging here. This year, the Delhi government will set up an alternate drainage system and an automatic water pump to further improve its preparedness in this area.
Apart from this, the work of desilting of storm drains in Delhi is also going on at a fast pace. The Deputy Chief Minister has directed the officials that the desilting work of all drains should be completed before May 31 and there should be no laxity.