Blame game over waterlogging

Agencies pass the buck as Delhi battles monsoon woes

Agencies pass the buck as Delhi battles monsoon woes

The Capital's civic agencies are rather busy these days. As the onset of Monsoons exposed Delhi's crumbling infrastructure, various departments took up cudgels to shift the blame. In a move, which may further increase tension between the BJP-ruled MCD and the Congress-ruled Delhi government, an MCD report has declared that over 70 per cent spots where the city faced waterlogging problems on Monday evening come under PWD jurisdiction.


Flood of misery: Majority of areas in the Capital reported water-logging
on Monday after rains and thundershowers. file pic

"We have carried out a survey. We wanted to verify whether the charges being levelled against us are true or false. More than a hundred places where waterlogging was reported, belonged to either PWD or has suffered the problem as PWD work is going on in the vicinity. Apart from that, work done by other agencies like BSES, NDPL and DMRC also caused problems. But major problem was due to PWD," an MCD official said.u00a0

The Delhi government on Tuesday had pulled up the MCD for the waterlogging which the civic agency has been refusing to accept responsibility for. Eleven people were killed and thousands remained stranded on city roads on Monday after a brief spell of rain. However, it is yet to be seen whether the Delhi government accepts the report or not.

But the MCD too has failed to come clean on the issue. The MCD report indicates that there were around twenty points in the city that faced waterlogging and are under MCD jurisdiction.

"These are mainly low-lying areas. But now as we have come to know about these points, we have initiated remedial measures," said an official who wished not to be named.

When contacted, Works Committee Chairman, Jagdish Magain confirmed that such a study has been done. "We wanted to get a actual report. It is being sent to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Urban Development Minister A K Walia and PWD Minsiter Raj Kumar Chauhan, so that they can further direct the agencies to take remedial measures," Magain said.