New Delhi: The Delhi government has unveiled a Drainage Master Plan that proposes the construction of ‘silt traps’ along major drains to prevent waterlogging.
The initiative, aimed at modernising the city’s outdated drainage infrastructure, is inspired from a successful pilot project in Chennai.
“We constructed ‘silt traps’ in drains in Chennai a few years ago as an experiment which brought a drastic decrease in waterlogging episodes in the city,” said Gyanasis Jena, one of the private consultants hired by the government to prepare the plan.
According to the plan, traps will be constructed as separate chambers at a lower level alongside the drains, where silt carried by stormwater can accumulate, preventing it from clogging the main drainage line, Jena said.
Designed to meet the city’s drainage requirements over the next 30 years, the master plan will be implemented in five years in two phases. The method aims to reduce waterlogging episodes by 50 per cent in the next three years and flood-related accidents by 30 per cent in the next five years.
The two phases will involve critical flood control and network expansion with priority integration, overhauling the drainage network that runs up to 18,958 km and is overseen by eight agencies.
Jena said silt traps would simplify drain cleaning. Delhi’s 50-year-old drainage, divided into Najafgarh, Barapullah, and Trans-Yamuna basins, now has 445 waterlogging points, up from 308 in 2023.