New Delhi: The IIT-Delhi report, which recommended the Delhi Drainage Master Plan received by the Delhi government in 2019, but almost nothing has changed on the ground.
Officials from the channel management institution argue that the first few steps have been taken, but the pandemic stops their implementation.
The plan, which takes almost a decade to be resolved, is still mostly on paper.
In 2009, the Governor of Lieutenant who then Tejendra Khanna had asked civilians and all stakeholders to prepare a master plan for Delhi’s watershed and drainage systems.
“The last Master Drainage plan was completed by returning in 1976.
A new plan must be prepared by continuing to see the scenario that changed rapidly from the growth of the city,” said the former CM CM Sheila Dikshit in 2012, while announcing that IIT-Delhi will make a drainage master plan , Now, nearly nine years later, the master plan continues to be jammed, while the city continues to challenge the defecation due to even a rainfall spell.
The IIT expert team handed over the planned plan in December 2016 and the recommendation was finally accepted in 2019.
One of the main recommendations was the recovery of the Delhi natural channel system.
Manoj Mishra from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan said that 18 large natural channels, which have been identified in the 1976 drainage plan, are lost.
“So much time, resources and money are used to prepare this master plan, but why is it not implemented?” He asked.
“The natural drainage system is in total chaos and one institution such as irrigation and flood control (I & FC) must be responsible for managing waterways and applying the master plan.
The need for the storm water drainage system remains free of waste and solid waste is also highlighted in the plan , “Mishra said.
Other major recommendations include the separation of sewerage systems and storm waterways, unified frameworks, placing pipes to take storm water from the surface to the nearest park or waterbodies, among others.
The number of institutions and the absence of a public framework has disrupted city drainage year after year.
Ten bodies, including corporations, PWD, DSIIDC, DDA and the I & FC department managed more than 3,700 kilometers of waterways.
A senior city official said several meetings from a Joint Secretary Committee had occurred, but the pandemic had delayed implementation.
PWD does not comment on this problem.