Will enhance Delhi’s drainage system, make it world-class: CM Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Lieutenant Governor and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a crucial review meeting on Monday on the drainage system of Delhi, wherein the concerned departments gave presentations on the works and projects they had undertaken in the city.

The CM expressed his appreciation for how the situation had been handled at present and called for enhancing the city’s drainage system to make it world class. He also appreciated the officers for curbing water-logging at the Minto Bridge, an otherwise water-logging hotspot of the city.

Besides the Chief Minister, PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, Chief Secretary and various officers from their concerned departments were also present in the meeting.

Chief Minister Kejriwal said, “I am pleased with the work done by our agencies, and we can see the proof of their work at Minto Bridge. There’s a folklore-benchmark in Delhi, it is said that the day Minto Bridge gets waterlogged, that day marks the onset of the monsoons. Minto Bridge this time is the talk of the town. Our officers and engineers gave their best towards ensuring the Minto Bridge does not get waterlogged. I am not saying so. The people of Delhi are.”

“I want to congratulate all the officers and engineers. Their work at the Minto Bridge has proven that we have the capacity to curb water-logging at all the vulnerable points where water gets logged in Delhi. We know of 147 such vulnerable points. If we conduct extensive mapping, we can enlist all possible vulnerable points. If solutions for all vulnerable points are planned and worked towards like the Minto Bridge, then we can bring Delhi freedom from water-logging,” he added.

The CM called for improving the city’s drainage system and said, “Delhi, being the national capital, should have the best designed drainage system on offer, which unfortunately we do not have. There are a lot of places in Delhi where drains of the Jal Board and the MCD converge and there is no coordination between them. I would like to suggest that PWD acts as the nodal authority and undertakes an exercise to redesign Delhi’s drainage system. If an excellent design is in place and all the agencies can work together on it, then we can implement it.”

“Once such a system is in place, we would only require de-silting it once a year and the drainage system will be free of liability. So we should work on that prospect. We need to also popularise our grievance helpline numbers with the people of the city,” the CM added.

The CM also took to Twitter to share his vision with the public. “Conducted a review meeting with PWD, MCD, DJB, I&FC chaired by the LG on the drainage system of Delhi in view of the monsoons.  Will implement a system like Minto Bridge at other vulnerable points. Drains and sewers will be regularly cleaned. Will make a world-class drainage system in Delhi”, the tweet read.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain asked the agencies to be fully prepared for combating any problems that could be faced and said, “In the next three days we are going to have excess rainfall, so we need to be fully prepared to handle the situation. We not only have to be alert during the day but extra alert during the night; we have over 1500 pump sets we should deploy them all.”

“Our officers and engineers across departments need to be available and alert 24x7 because the next few days are going to need more attention,” he added.