Kamal Ghorui
New Delhi: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has recorded a submission by Delhi’s irrigation and flood control department that desilting of 77 drains will be completed before the monsoon — by May 31. However, as of April 1, only about 30.4% of drains have been desilted, it said.“As of today (April 1), the percentage achieved is 30.4 and the timeline will be adhered to and the entire desilting work will be completed by May 31, 2026. I&FC is directed to file a further progress report before the next date of hearing,” a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said, listing the matter for May 21.NGT last year took suo motu cognisance of a May 5, 2025, TOI article, titled “Deadline Looming: MCD Met Just 21% of Desilting Target By End of April”. The report flagged how by the end of April 2025, only 21% of the desilting target was met. It has since then sought regular status updates from agencies such as the I&FC department.A delay in clearing drains often leads to waterlogging as the silt obstructs the natural flow of the water that then floods roads, underpasses and colonies.A status report shared on March 18 this year said that about 23% of the desilting work was completed. From the 77 drains, a total of 28,57,464 metric tonnes (MT) of silt is planned to be removed by May 31, it said.The same report noted that the progress on desilting the Shahdara drain stood at 35.5%, and for Barapullah drain, it was at 4.8%. The Najafgarh drain is being desilted in five segments. While the progress percentage of two segments stood at 5.9% and 20.9%, respectively, work on the other three was yet to start.Delhi typically receives its first monsoon shower around June 27. In 2023, the rains arrived two days early on June 25. That year, a record 228 mm of rain in 24 hours on June 28 led to heavy waterlogging across the city, including in Lutyens’ Delhi and several south Delhi neighbourhoods.Water entered homes and shops, and emergency teams were forced to carry out large-scale pumping operations. At least 50 rain-related deaths were reported during the season.Data from the environment department submitted to the NGT-appointed committee in Jan 2023 showed that the Najafgarh drain alone accounted for nearly 69% of all wastewater reaching the Yamuna. The Shahdara and Barapulla drains followed at 10.9% and 3.15%, respectively.Despite the target of awarding contracts by Feb-end for desilting MCD drains that are over four-foot-deep, the tendering process in several cases is still pending.Of the 296 works, 90 tenders are yet to be awarded, with the highest number in Najafgarh zone (37), followed by West zone (20). Other pending works include South and Karol Bagh zones (10 each), Central zone (6), Shahdara South (4), Shahdara North (2), and City–Sadar Paharganj (1) as of last week.“Instructions have been issued to deputy commissioners and chief engineers to complete the process within a week,” an official said. The report has been compiled based on inputs from maintenance divisions and zonal offices. These works are stuck at various levels.Of the total 296 works, the maximum are in Najafgarh zone (71), followed by Shahdara North (52), Central and West zones (35 each), and South zone (34), among others.The MCD commissioner in Feb directed officials to issue work orders for deep drains that month itself. The commissioner noted that the tendering process at the zonal level was slow. All chief engineers, superintending engineers and executive engineers were directed to ensure that the work orders are issued on time. MCD has set a target of removing 2.2 lakh metric tonnes of silt from about 800 drains that are deeper than four feet. A budget allocation of Rs 36 crore has been made. Officials said desilting of these drains will be carried out twice in 2026 — pre-monsoon by June 15 (Phase I) and post-monsoon by Dec 31 (Phase II).In addition, there are 12,892 drains with a depth of less than four feet, having a combined length of 6,069.8 km, which are desilted throughout the year.This year, MCD has laid down norms for debris disposal. Silt has to be removed from sides of drains within three to five days, and under no circumstances should debris remain on roadsides for more than seven days. The waste will be transported only to designated landfill sites at Okhla, Bhalswa, Singhola and Ghazipur. Proper documentation, including before-and-after photographs or videos of silt removal, will be done.To increase public participation and accountability, the civic body has decided to fix two specific days for citizens and stakeholders to submit feedback and complaints, and complaints can also be registered on MCD’s toll-free number 311.
