As many parts of the national capital witnessed heavy waterlogging over the last two days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that Delhi’s system had not been designed to handle the level of “unprecedented” rainfall it had witnessed.
“In 24 hours from July 8 to July 9, 153 mm of rainfall was received by Delhi. This is the highest in 40 years. This is unprecedented. Delhi’s system is not designed to handle this much rainfall and people faced a lot of problems,” Mr. Kejriwal said, addressing a press conference.
The national capital’s current drainage master plan was made in 1976 when the population of the city was about 60 lakh. Since then, the population of the city has increased about four times, but a new drainage master plan is yet to be finalised and implemented.
The Chief Minister also claimed that this was not time for “finger pointing” as it was an “unprecedented” situation. “This is the time when everyone — the State governments, the Centre and the people — need to come together and work,” he said.
Delhi received 107.3 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on July 10 and 2.9 mm of rainfall in the following nine hours, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Light to moderate rain is expected on July 11, and more rains are predicted every day till Sunday.
Mr. Kejriwal also said that this year there had been heavy waterlogging in many areas within the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) limits, which is a VVIP area and also houses the Embassies of many countries. “They [the NDMC] have been directed to conduct a study and prepare a special plan, so that such complaints do not arise again,” the Chief Minister said.
“Delhi was able to handle 100-125 mm rainfall in the past few years. But 153 mm rainfall is unprecedented, and because of this, the people of Delhi faced a lot of difficulties,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that the government was doing all it could to solve the problem of waterlogging.
“Apart from that, 680 pumps of the PWD (Public Works Department) are working in different parts of the city and sucking out the water from waterlogged areas. We also have 326 temporary pumps that are in use at the moment. There are also 100 mobile pumps in use,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Mr. Kejriwal said that the government has taken a decision to temporarily fill up the potholes that had been created on the roads that belonged to the Public Works Department (PWD) or the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
“At the moment, we cannot repair them as it is still raining, but we can temporarily fill up these potholes with bricks. The bell mouths of the drains often get clogged with litter, so we have kept our government staff to ensure that they are free of litter and the water continues to flow through the drain,” he said.
He also said that there had three incidents of roads caving in and the government had instructed officials to analyse the reason for it. “There could be several reasons such as the poor quality of the road, or a burst in the pipeline below the road,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Highways hit
The flooding of the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh has cut off a section of National Highway 3 from Kullu to Manali, forcing the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to close it for traffic.
The course of the Beas river has shifted close to the National Highway near the Raison Toll Plaza and has caused heavy damage at eight to 10 locations.
“Public is advised to be extremely careful and make use of advisories issued by State Government of Himachal and Met Department,” the NHAI said on social media.
It added that the district administration was monitoring the situation in the region.
Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari reviewed the flood situation and its impact on National Highways in several States, including Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, and others.
At a special meeting attended by the Secretary, Road Transport and Highways, the NHAI Chairman, and other officers, Mr. Gadkari instructed officials to prioritise the repair and maintenance of the affected highways.
