L-G visits Kirari, gets upset over ‘poor’ civic conditions

New Delhi: Lt Governor VK Saxena on Saturday visited the Kirari area and got “visibly peeved” at seeing overflowing sewers, open manholes, heaps of garbage, potholed and dusty roads in the area, according to Raj Niwas officials.

He visited the area in northwest Delhi, following “repeated requests” from local residents, and upon “receiving complaints of acute lack of sanitation and basic civic amenities,” the officials said.

Starting from Bhagwan Mahavir Marg, the L-G visited different locations in Kirari that are prone to severe waterlogging and filled with heaps of garbage, forcing the residents to live in “unhygienic living conditions”, a senior official at the Raj Niwas said.

“Shocked and anguished over the hellish condition that residents of these areas are forced to live in, the LG directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other agencies concerned to take immediate steps to improve sanitation in the area within a month,” the official said.

Saxena was “visibly peeved at (seeing) overflowing sewers, open manholes, heaps of garbage, potholed-dusty roads and broken pavements in the area”.

The L-G lamented that such an “apathy on part of the government agencies had led to the pathetic conditions” due to which Kirari, which houses nearly 1.5 lakh households and a population of 7-8 lakh, has remained “one of the most underdeveloped parts of the national capital, according to the officials.

He was informed that a major part of Kirari was low-lying and hence severely prone to waterlogging that forced people to live in “unhygienic conditions due to absence of sewerage system and lack of adequate storm water drainage system”.

No concrete efforts had been undertaken by the DJB and I&FC Department to address these issues, the officials said.

Similarly, the PWD and MCD had “largely left the roads in disrepair”, with the civic agency additionally “neglecting garbage disposal”.

Also, a vast expanse of nearly 500 acres of open DDA land surrounding Kirari was perennially filled with storm water as no proper drainage system exists in the area, they said.

As a result, water seeps from these land pockets into the adjoining low-lying residential colonies. The situation aggravates during monsoons and a large part of the area remains waterlogged for several days, the official said.

Saxena directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to expedite the construction of a 7.2-km drain that has been planned as a long-term solution to waterlogging in the area.

He also asked the DDA to chalk out a comprehensive drainage plan to ease the drainage issues in Kirari. As of now, Kirari Suleman Nagar Drain (KSN drain) is the only major storm water drain in Kirari but that is “proving insufficient” to meet the drainage requirements, the officials said.