North Corporation councillors term report on drains 'misleading'

The North Corporation councillors of both ruling and opposition parties termed a report by the civic agency about the desilting and cleaning of drain as “incomplete and misleading”.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung met commissioners of three municipal corporations, officials with PWD and DDA on Monday and asked them to complete desilting work for all drains in city by May-end.

The LG also directed them to initiate criminal proceeding against those dumping garbage on unauthorised sites.

Councillors of the north civic agency have questioned the corporation’s tall claims of monsoon preparedness. The report tabled by the commissioner at the North Corporation’s House meeting on Monday said that cleanliness of the 780 drains, which are less than four feet deep, is almost complete.

“We want to ask the commissioner that how many rounds of inspections have been made to compile this report? Not a single drain has been fully cleaned. The report is incomplete and misleading,” said Leader of the House Mira Aggarwal.

“To prepare for monsoon we should look beyond drains and desilting. The corporation should take steps to check the number of diseases the season brings with it,” she added.

Even the Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel said that the civic agency does not have the machinery to clean drains. “The Department of Environment Management Service (DEMS) which looks after the cleanliness of drains and desilting doesn’t have the equipment to do the job,” he said.

The LG instructed that the agencies to make sure the staff is available round-the-clock to operate the water pumps placed at vulnerable points during monsoon.

The LG asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation not to leave debris from their construction sites on roads for better traffic management.

At a review meeting with senior officials at Raj Niwas, Jung instructed the agencies to increase the number of telephone lines at control rooms if required.

“The three Delhi discoms were asked to ensure that no digging work will take place during monsoon,” he added.

The three municipal corporations were asked to carry out desilting of drains less than four-feet deep in all the unauthorised colonies. A landfill site for garbage disposal will be provided to the Delhi Development Authority soon.

The LG has set a May-end deadline for desilting and he will chair a meeting of officials in June.

He also asked the DDA, PWD and other agencies to ensure proper cleanliness, maintenance and security of the subways across the city.

“The LG has asked for a roadmap for optimum utilisation of the subways within three months,” he added.