South Delhi faces waterlogging threat as drain cleaning remains behind schedule
South Delhi may be set for a repeat of waterlogging this monsoon, as three key drains — the Kushak drain and supplementary Sunehripul and Defence Colony drains — are yet to be desilted. The process may not be completed by the arrival of monsoon, typically the last week of June, according to an affidavit submitted by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) earlier this week.
In its affidavit dated May 5, the MCD said efforts were being made to desilt the covered portion of all three drains, with progress varied for each drain. It said work on the 1.4-kilometre-long Sunehripul drain — which flows along Defence Colony and underneath Lala Lajpat Rai Marg before joining Barapullah drain — will be executed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), as decided by the lieutenant governor (LG) in a recent meeting, but desilting work was yet to begin.
'DMRC is to carry out the covered modification in the covered portion of drain and desilt it from the inlet at Dayal Singh College up to Lala Lajpat Rai Marg using appropriate methodology. As per the said direction, the chairman NDMC has already been formally requested to release the funds to the DMRC to enable the latter to take up the work,' it said in the affidavit, a copy of which was accessed by HT.
'The exact design contours of the work will be finalized by the DMRC,' it added.
Last week, NGT sought clear timelines from the MCD on when the desilting of the three south Delhi drains would be completed. It also asked the MCD to disclose the safety measures it will put in place after desilting, to ensure that the opening in the covered portion does not lead to an accident or emission of foul smell.
The three drains extend to around nearly 10km in length and traverse south Delhi neighbourhoods of Defence Colony, INA, Chirag Dilli, Nizamuddin, Jangpura, Pushp Vihar, Andrewsganj and Greater Kailash, among others.
In the affidavit, the MCD said work on the 6.5-km-long Kushak drain, which empties into the Barapullah drain, can only commence once work on the Sunehripul drain is complete. Here, nearly a one-kilometre-long stretch near the Kushak bus depot is covered, requiring intervention. 'That work on covered portion of Kushak drain having the DTC bus depot shall be taken up only upon stabilization and assessment of the work at Sunehripul as mentioned above,' MCD said in the affidavit.
Further, MCD said that around 1.3 kilometres of the 1.6-kilometre-long Defence Colony drain, a subsidiary of the Kushak drain, is covered. The civic agency said it planned to complete the longitudinal opening and desilting of the entire covered portion within 120 days, from the date of the award of work.
'The Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) has been issued and bids shall be received on May 10, 2025,' the affidavit said, adding that a 50-metre stretch has been opened so far. It said directions were issued to engineers-in-charge to target completing work on the opening and desilting a substantial portion of it by June 30, to curb waterlogging.
Generally, June 27 is considered the normal date of onset of monsoon in Delhi. The NGT has been hearing multiple pleas filed on Delhi's stormwater drains, with petitions from residents of Nizamuddin West, Defence Colony and Shahdara, among others across the city, seeking action against the sewage flowing through the Capital's drains. Multiple pleas pointed out that sewage flow caused foul smell and waterlogging during monsoon.
Last year, large parts of the Capital were waterlogged, largely owing to a lack of adequate desilting work. All drains in Delhi were eventually handed over to the irrigation and flood control (I&FC) department to reduce the multiplicity of agencies in the desilting exercise.
However, I&FC in March this year expressed concerns over desilting the covered portions of Kushak and Sunehripul drains. A month prior, the NGT said it was crucial to undertake desilting on time to avoid waterlogging. The initial deadline set to desilt all drains in Delhi, set by the I&FC is May 31, which is likely to be missed too.
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