Of overflowing drains and stagnant water

The drains are chocked with polythene and debris and often overflowing even when there has been no rainfall. This was the sight that greeted the Millennium Post team when it visited the Kondali area in East Delhi, a sight that belies the EDMC officers’ claims that all drains of less than four feet depth and four feet width in the areas under their jurisdiction have been de-silted and cleaned as part of the authority’s pre-monsoon drive.

Facts don’t match their files, however. The officers also claim that they have fulfilled their target of de-silting 37,588 metric tonnes of deposits by 10 July and dumped the deposits at the Ghazipur garbage site. ‘We have removed more deposits than our target but now the work of de-silting has been stopped owing to the onset of the monsoon season as it is not feasible to clean the drains during the drains. Regular removal of debris is on to prevent water logging,’ said Commissioner of EDMC, S S Yadav. 

The corporation has 268 drains in its jurisdiction of which 148 fall in the Shahdara North Zone and 116 fall in the Shahdara South Zone. The total length of the drains in these areas is around 152 km. Despite the EDMC’s claims of cleaning and arranging for water pumps, several areas remained water logged with the very first showers of the season on 9 July. The corporation itself recorded six instances of water logging during that time. Priyanka Gautam, councillor Kondali area, refutes Yadav’s claims of the drains having been cleared. ‘You can see the drains in this area. I have to constantly nag the engineers to get the debris and silt removed from the drains when the area is water logged. Even in normal days they hardly ever come to clear the drains. If they ever clear the drains, the deposits are left on the roads. With time, it gradually slips back in to the drains,’ Gautam told Millennium Post. 

The situation is not restricted to just Kondali. The same problem is visible in Krishanpuri and near Lal Bahadur Shashtri Hospital. ‘The mayor had asked officials to get certificates from the councillors to show that drains in their constituencies have been cleaned, but not a single councillor was approached for the certificate,’ said Varyam Kaur, leader of opposition at the EDMC. 

The corporation has 1142 nala beldar to clean the drains. Around 177 big drains measuring 121.20 km have been transferred under the jurisdiction of the PWD department of the Delhi government. ‘The work of de-silting and cleaning drains has been done only on paper,’ said Preeti Singh, a congress councillor. 

The corporation claims to have round the clock zonal control rooms equipped with trolley mounted diesel pumps to pump out water in case of water logging and sufficient workers to man the pumps and clean the drains. Why areas like Kondali then have to suffer overflowing drains then, remain a puzzle.