Two days, 189 complaints of waterlogging. Result: the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s claims of having completed desilting work well in time has fallen flat.

While Delhi’s prime civic body usually employs a battery of contractors to desilt over 5,000 drains, it has not employed a single contractor this year — depending instead on its own sanitation staff to carry out the mammoth task to ensure “better results”. Also, out of the Rs 25 crore kept aside for this year’s desilting work, the MCD spent Rs 3.7 crore. 

The MCD, however, claims that it has already begun on the desilting process for the next monsoon season, having finished desilting work for this monsoon. MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur told Newsline that the civic body has already completed de-silting work in 1,540 big drains that are over 4 feet deep (undertaken by the agency engineering department), and 3,257 small drains (undertaken by the environment management department) under its jurisdiction.

Mayor Kanwar Sain, meanwhile, blamed other civic agencies on Tuesday for the state of affairs, saying waterlogging has taken place only in areas under the jurisdiction of the PWD and the NDMC. 

During previous years, the MCD usually divided the desilting work between contractors and its own sanitation wing. Higher officials said this often led to corrupt practices, as more than the actual cleaning work, the contractors focus on the weight of silt carried to landfill sites, which determines their payment. 

In 2006, when the MCD opened tenders for desilting contracts, there were no takers. MCD sources said no contracting agency was willing to come forward as they had not been paid by the agency for earlier years.

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