New Delhi, 24 June (H.S.): The Delhi government has intensified its preparations for the upcoming monsoon season, with extensive desilting and drainage maintenance work being carried out across the capital. As part of the review process, Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh on Wednesday inspected ongoing desilting operations in the Moti Nagar Assembly constituency and assessed the city's pre-monsoon preparedness.

The minister stated that cleaning work has been completed on approximately 1,900 kilometres of drains across Delhi, while a total of 30.91 lakh metric tonnes of silt has been removed this year to improve the city's drainage capacity.

During the review, significant progress was reported by both the Public Works Department and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department. According to the latest PWD progress report, desilting work has been completed on 1,900.15 kilometres of drains out of a total network of 2,125.87 kilometres, achieving 89.38 percent of the department's target.

The minister noted that the Irrigation and Flood Control Department had removed nearly 19 lakh metric tonnes of silt last year, whereas the figure has increased substantially this year to 30,91,242 metric tonnes.

Providing a detailed breakdown, he said that 2,84,655 metric tonnes of silt have been removed from 21 major drains. The Najafgarh Drain alone accounted for the removal of 12,77,172 metric tonnes of silt. In total, 15,61,827 metric tonnes of silt were cleared from 22 major drains, while an additional 15,29,415 metric tonnes were removed from 55 subsidiary drains.

The minister said that the cumulative removal of 30.91 lakh metric tonnes of silt is expected to significantly enhance the drainage system's capacity and help mitigate waterlogging during the monsoon season.

Emphasising the importance of field inspections, Parvesh Sahib Singh said that despite the existence of maintenance contracts, the actual condition of infrastructure can only be accurately assessed through on-site visits. He stated that senior officials, chief engineers, and field teams are currently inspecting roads, drains, and other critical locations across Delhi ahead of the monsoon.

He added that although the government has two-year running maintenance contracts in place, continuous physical verification remains essential to ensure quality execution. Accordingly, officials have been deployed across different Assembly constituencies to review ongoing work.

The minister announced that inspections will be conducted in all 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi over the next 10 to 15 days. Every drain, roadway, and vulnerable location is being reviewed, and any shortcomings identified during inspections will be addressed immediately through corrective measures.

He stressed that there would be no compromise on quality, preparedness, or public safety. According to the minister, the Delhi government is following a policy of proactive preparedness rather than responding only after problems arise. Continuous monitoring, inter-departmental coordination, and field-level inspections are being undertaken to ensure that residents face minimal inconvenience during the monsoon season.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar