Sustaining that an “inter-departmental dispute” is delaying work to desilt 24 drains that open into Yamuna River, the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday directed the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Management (I&FC) Division to finish the work inside the stipulated deadline of Might this yr.
Further Chief Secretary (I&FC) Navin Kumar Choudhary, who attended the listening to nearly, mentioned that desilting of two key drains – Kushak and Sunehri Pul – might be affected because the drains are “lined by heavy encroachment” and might be cleaned solely with the assistance of Municipal Company of Delhi (MCD) and companies involved. Nonetheless, earlier communications to MCD on the matter have yielded no outcomes, he added.
In an affidavit filed on February 25, Choudhary had mentioned that the drains are lined in lots of areas for “utilisation of varied functions like parking, parks… by varied companies”.
He had added that the desilting of the lined parts needs to be carried out by the “drain protecting companies” earlier than they’re handed over to the I&FC division.
The NGT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava on Thursday noticed that enough time has handed and if desilting will not be accomplished inside the stipulated time, it will pose a menace because of flooding issues.
“… an inter-departmental dispute is happening, which renders ineffective the Delhi Excessive Courtroom’s instructions final yr at hand over your complete accountability of drains to a single company… Until the cleansing of the lined portion of the drains is completed, the issue of overflowing of drains is not going to be remediated,” Justice Shrivastava mentioned.
The NGT directed Choudhary to file a contemporary affidavit on the steps to be taken to desilt the 2 key drains and likewise be certain that work for the remaining will get accomplished inside the deadline.
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Choudhary knowledgeable the tribunal {that a} assembly with the Chief Secretary, GNCTD (Authorities of the Nationwide Capital Territory of Delhi), and the MCD Commissioner will likely be held in 10 days to resolve the matter.
On April 8, 2024, the Delhi Excessive Courtroom had directed the Delhi authorities to make sure that desilting of the drains is accomplished by December that yr, with the desilting of the Najafgarh drain to be accomplished by June 30, 2025. Following this, in the course of the seventeenth assembly of the Built-in Drain Administration Cell in April, it was determined that the accountability for all of the open drains, which open into Yamuna, be handed over to the I&FC Division.
Nonetheless, work was formally handed over to the I&FC Division by companies such because the MCD solely in December 2024.
With a goal to take away over 12.7 crore metric tonnes of silt from the drains, the I&FC gave a brand new deadline to the NGT on February 21. Apart from the Najafgarh drain, whose desilting is anticipated to be accomplished in three years, all the opposite drains, together with key ones like these in Barapullah, Shahdara and Kushak, work is to be accomplished by Might finish, forward of the monsoon season.
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The NGT had mentioned in its February 21 order that if the desilting work will not be accomplished inside the deadline, monsoon will arrive and residents of areas the place these drains are situated could once more face waterlogging and flooding. It had then requested the Further Chief Secretary (I&FC) to submit an endeavor by February 25, stating that work will likely be accomplished inside the stipulated deadline.
On February 25, in an endeavor, the division had mentioned that whereas the Delhi City Shelter Enchancment Board has accomplished its survey on the Barapullah drain, the Income Division has surveyed the Sen Nursing House drain. The remainder of the drains had been handed over to it for upkeep functions, it had added.
It had additional mentioned that the development of boundary partitions across the drains can be taken up based mostly on the supply of funds and land for a similar.
