Fed up with wading through waterlogged roads across the national Capital, a group of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) on Wednesday stated that the Delhi government must provide inflatable boats to people in low-lying areas that get flooded every monsoon.
In a letter written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, President of the East Delhi RWAs Joint Front, BS Vohra, said: "In the past, you had said that the Public Works Department (PWD) has completely cleared the drains of Delhi. Even then, the city had reached the brink of drowning as there was no coordination between PWD and the municipal corporations. Now that you are saying that the PWD officials have not even cleaned the drains in Delhi and they should be sent to jail, may God save the city."
He further requested Kejriwal to provide at least one inflatable boat to each RWA in low-lying areas. "It's both serious and sarcastic. On the one hand, we want to send a message to the authorities. On the other hand, it may be helpful for those in the low-lying areas," Vohra said.
Every monsoon, while the civic agencies and the Delhi government's PWD play the blame-game, it is the people who suffer. In the recent Delhi Assembly session, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs has demanded that the PWD officials who left the drains dirty, which led to accumulation of water and mosquito breeding, should be sent to jail.
On Monday, counting the lapses in the report submitted by the PWD officials, AAP MLA from Dwarka, Adarsh Shastri, had said: "Everything was just on paper and no work was done on the ground. It's criminal negligence. If there is an outbreak of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya, the officials concerned are liable of culpable homicide."
Last week, Kejriwal had also said that the city needed a separate body for cleaning of drains and maintenance of roads. "When the PWD officials were not doing their duty of cleaning the drains, where were the 67 MLAs of Delhi?" Vohra asked.
ANALYSIS
- Both PWD and MCDs must come together and take immediate steps to resolve the crisis that has taken birth due to the multiplicity of the authorities and poor coordination between agencies.
- It is high time that the government gets serious about the issue of waterlogging as vector-borne diseases have become an annual routine in the city.
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 "Waterlogging")
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