Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday directed the officials to intensify inspection of desilting of drains ahead of the monsoon in the Capital.
He asked the traffic police to increase presence of personnel in areas which are prone to waterlogging and sought deployment functional water pumps in all such places. Mr. Baijal also suggested rainwater harvesting along the roads in a meeting with officials to review the progress of desilting of drains, at Raj Niwas on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by Public Works Department Minister Satyendar Jain, Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty and Principal Secretary, PWD, Ashwani Kumar, in addition to representatives from the New Delhi Municipal Council and the three municipal corporations of Delhi among others.
“The meeting was convened by the L-G to review the progress of work of the High-Level Coordination Committee set up to supervise desilting of drains and cover open manholes,” read a statement from Raj Niwas.
Waterlogging a concern
According to a senior official, Mr. Baijal instructed Principal Secretary, PWD, to ensure proper cleaning of all drains under the department and develop a feedback mechanism whereby the public is able to send pictures of the places where there is waterlogging.
The L-G further stressed that adequate number of functional water pumps and operating staff should be deployed at vulnerable locations.
“He instructed the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) to increase deployment of traffic police personnel in areas prone to waterlogging to ease the traffic,” said the statement.
The LG also stressed the need for creating Quick Response Teams to handle cases of breakdown that otherwise lead to massive snarls.
