NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Irrigation and Flood Control Department (I&FCD) of the Delhi Government to submit an undertaking ensuring that the desilting of 24 drains in the Capital is completed by May 31, in order to prevent flooding during the monsoon season.
The NGT issued the directive during a hearing on the desilting of these 24 drains, which empty into the Yamuna.
Last year, multiple deaths occurred in Delhi due to drowning or electrocution during the monsoon season due to the waterlogging. The cause of waterlogging has been attributed to the failure of the city’s multiple civic bodies to desilt and repair the drainage system.
The Bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, in an order dated February 21, noted that the I&FCD had submitted a report dated February 20 about the status of desilting the drains along with details regarding the timeline for completion of the work.
According to the report, the timeline for completing the desilting work across all drains is May 31. Most of the work has been completed by February 14 in Moat Drain of Vijay Ghat , followed by Civil-Military Drain , Maharani Bagh Drain , Abul Fazal Drain , Kushak Drain , Tuglakabad Drain and Sunehri Pul Drain.
On the other hand, the least desilting work has been completed in Sonia Vihar Drain , Shastri Park Drain , Sen Nursing Home Drain , Kailash Nagar Drain and Barapulla Drain .
“It has been pointed out that if the desilting work is not completed by the I&FCD within the timeline then this year monsoon will start and the residents of the colony from where these drains are flowing may face the same flooding or overflowing problem of these drains which they had faced in the previous monsoon,” said the Bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel.
The tribunal said it was thus necessary to complete the work of desilting the 24 drains by May 31.