DJB: Steps taken to prevent waterlogging at critical spots in city

New Delhi: To prevent waterlogging during monsoon season in the national capital, Public Works Department has taken a range of steps including construction of separate drains, high capacity sumps and installation of automated pumps among others at critical locations prone to waterlogging, officials said on Wednesday.

According to senior PWD officials, the department has identified at least seven locations which are critical in terms of waterlogging out of the around 145 such locations in the city.

"Out of these 145, seven are critical points that include underpasses at Minto Bridge and Pul Prahladpur in the city. We are taking many short term as well as long term solutions including construction of drains and sumps, installation of automated pumps, CCTVs, enhancing the man power and deployment of additional maintenance vans," a senior PWD official told.

The seven critical waterlogging points of the city include IP State Ring Road near WHO building, underpasses at Pul Prahladpur, Minto Bridge, Zakhira, Okhla, Azadpur and Jahangirpuri metro station road.

Pul Prahladpur underpass is located on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, which is a crucial link between southeast and south Delhi. The underpass gets flooded every time it rains and gets shut for vehicular movement.

PWD officials said the underpass is a low-lying bowl shaped area and the main cause of waterlogging is overflow of a nearby Delhi Jal Board (DJB) sewer line.

At Pul Prahladpur underpass the PWD aims to solve the recurrent waterlogging problem by constructing a huge sump having 7.5 lakh litre capacity along with an additional motor pump of 600 horse power to remove water accumulated in the underpass.

Officials said that seven temporary pumps will also be set up with cumulative capacity of 500 horse power.

Officials said that at Okhla underpass two storm water drains have been constructed along with two pumps of 100 hourse power each to keep the area clear during rains.

At Minto Bridge underpass, the PWD has set up an alternate drainage system by constructing a separate drain, high capacity automated water pumps, CCTVs, alarms to ensure that the underpass does not get inundated, they said.

As per the government data, there are about 2,846 drains in Delhi and their length is about 3,692 km, majority of which are being managed by the Public Works Department.

Delhi is divided into three major natural drainage basins that are Trans Yamuna, Barapullah and Najafgarh. In addition, there are also some small drainage basins, the Aruna Nagar and Chandrawal, which drain directly into the Yamuna.