Over 14 mm of rainfall was recorded in Palam, Delhi, on Monday.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
The two agencies responsible for maintaining most of the city’s drainage — the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — are yet to complete desilting works, even as the monsoon has reached the city.
As of Monday, the PWD had finished desilting nearly 85% of the 2,530.6 km of drains in its jurisdiction while the MCD had completed the work in around 80% of its 6,657-km stormwater drain network. The two agencies together are responsible for 83% of the 10,936 km of drains in Delhi.
A senior PWD official said, “Till Sunday, around 82% of desilting was completed. On Monday, we finished work on 85% of the drains. The plan is to carry out desilting works throughout the year.”
Talking about the challenges the municipality faces in the desilting process, a senior MCD official said, “Very often we have to desilt a drain more than once due to the backflow from larger drains that have not been desilted.”
Monsoon arrived in the Capital on Sunday, causing waterlogging in parts of the city. The India Meteorological Department has forecast rain in Delhi every day till July 6.
On Monday, 14.4 mm of rainfall was recorded at the Palam weather station, and 20 mm in Ayanagar.
Agencies in the national capital have missed multiple deadlines for desilting works. Last year, the Delhi High Court had ordered the PWD and the MCD to desilt the drains in their jurisdictions by December 2024 and January 2025 respectively. However, both deadlines were missed.
After coming to power in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had set May 31 as the deadline for desilting all drains. Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh had set June 15 as the deadline for desilting, which was later revised to June 30.
When reached for comment, the offices of the CM and the PWD Minister did not respond.
‘Drains choked’
The Opposition parties criticised the BJP government over the issue. “As of today [Monday], even the extended deadline of June 30 has passed, and the PWD is yet to finish the work,” the Aam Aadmi Party said in a statement. “Deadlines have been missed, drains remain choked, jhuggis are being bulldozed, and people are battling power cuts and water shortage. There is total collapse in governance,” it added. Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said the “inaction and incompetence of the triple-engine government has been exposed as all its assurances about monsoon preparedness have fallen flat”.
Published – July 01, 2025 12:40 am IST