MCD woefully unprepared to deal with problems of waterlogging

New Delhi, June 18 (UNI) Monsoon may have set in over Delhi but the Municipal Corporation of Delhi seems to be still unpreparted to tackle problems of waterlogging in case of heavy rains.

Figures issued by the Corporation reveal that the civil body behind schedule as far as work on desilting of various drains in the city is concerned.

Out of the 1485 drains in the city, desilting work has been completed only on 207 drains while that on 1278 drains is still in progress.

In Rohini zone, desilting work has been completed in just four out of 231 drains while the work in all 136 drains in Nazafgarh zone and all 68 drains in Civil lines zone is still going on, the figures reveal.

In South zone, desilting work has been completed only for 135 out of the nearly 147 drains while in West zone work has been completed only in seven out of the total of 202 drains..

Out of the target of removal of nearly 9 lakh metric tonnes of silt from Delhi drains, the MCD has till now removed onlt 3,22,762.67 Million tonnes of silt.

The slow progress of desilting work is despite the fact that the MCD has this year set aside a budget of Rs 37.5 crore for this purpose, as against Rs 20 crore last year.

The woefully inadequate state of preparedness of the MCD in tackling waterlogging in the city is evident from the huge number of complaints of waterlogging recieved from all over the city on Sunday, when the South West monsoon entered the city, two weeks earlier than its scheduled date.

While over 40 complaints of waterlogging were recieved from various areas on Sunday, when the city got 32 mm of rainfall, 64 complaints of waterlogging were recieved on Monday, a day when the city had just 12 mm of rainfall.

UNI AR AKJ VC1740