Govt to design a world-class drainage system for Delhi: CM

New Delhi: In a review meeting the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took stock of the preparation done by the various departments to enhance the drainage system in the Capital.

In the meeting the CM said that he will enhance the city's drainage system and make it world class. Officials from various departments like PWD and DJB showed presentations of the work done and initiatives taken by all the departments.

The CM called for enhancing the city's drainage system to make it world class and appreciated the officers for curbing water-logging at the Minto Bridge which in the previous years would be waterlogged during the monsoon season.

"I am pleased with the work done by our agencies, and we can see the proof of their work at Minto Bridge. There's a folklore-benchmark in Delhi,it is said that the day Minto Bridge gets waterlogged, that day marks the onset of the monsoons. Minto Bridge this time is the talk of the town," he said.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, the Chief Secretary and various officers from their concerned departments were also present in the meeting. All officers and engineers across departments need to be available and alert 24x7 to combat water-logging, Jain said.

There are a lot of places in Delhi where drains of the Jal Board and the MCD converge, there is no coordination in them. "I would like to suggest that PWD acts as the nodal authority and undertakes an exercise to redesign Delhi's drainage system. If an excellent design is in place and all the agencies can work together on it, then we can implement it," Kejriwal said.

"In the next three days we are going to have excess rainfall, so we need to be fully prepared to handle the situation. We not only have to be alert during the day but extra alert during the night; we have over 1500 pump sets we should deploy them all," Jain said.

The work done by officials at the Minto Bridge has proven that the departments have the capacity to curb water-logging at all the vulnerable points where water gets logged in the city.

"We know of 147 such vulnerable points. If we conduct extensive mapping, we can enlist all possible vulnerable points. If solutions for all vulnerable points are planned and worked towards like the Minto Bridge, then we can bring Delhi freedom from water-logging," the CM added.

"Once such a system is in place, we would only require de-silting it once a year and the drainage system will be free of liability. So we should work on that prospect. We need to also popularise our grievance helpline numbers with the people of the city," the CM added.