Experts to rework city’s drainage network,Cabinet approval in

“The first Master Plan,made in 1981,was prepared by department staff. Since then,population (of Delhi) and habitation has reached a level of saturation,” Dikshit said.

Dikshit said a new master plan is a necessity as the existing network is too old to be repaired or revived. “Instances of choking of drains are being noticed regularly,” she said.

The first plan was to be reviewed and integrated with the Master Plan of Delhi 2001,but that never happened,officials said.

Dikshit said,“Instead of reviewing it,the drainage system has been upgraded in a piecemeal manner by way of remodeling of some existing drainage and construction of new drains by various civic agencies as per their requirements.”

The Delhi government decided to prepare a new drainage master plan in 2007,but it has got that plan rolling only now.

The government will share a geo-spatial map of the city with IIT-Delhi experts so they could chalk out the existing drainage network.

A government official said a new master plan is necessary also because the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 recommends effluent treatment plants at outfall of drains,a time-bound programme for augmentation and capacity revision of existing drains and proposing new drains to feed the city’s fast growing population.