PWD issues SOP for de-silting of Delhi's drains

New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) The PWD of Delhi on Wednesday issued an SOP for proper de-silting of drains, operation of pumps, road repair work and precautionary measures to avoid electrocution, following the death of three UPSC aspirants in Old Rajinder Nagar due to flooding.

The silt removed from the drains should be immediately disposed off in the authorised dumping grounds within a maximum of two hours after de-silting as during rains, there is limited time for the silt to dry, an official memorandum of the public works department said.

Delhi has seen high-intensity rains this monsoon, leading to waterlogging in a short period of time.

On Wednesday, too, Delhi recorded more than a hundred millimetres of rainfall in one hour, leading to waterlogging in several areas, prompting the weather office to issue a 'red' warning.

Various unfortunate incidents of deaths due to electrocution, flooding of basements, falling into drains and accidents due to potholes on roads have been reported recently, the memo said.

In view of these incidents, all drains have to be de-silted completely, it said.

“Certain areas of drains are encroached and that encroachment has to be removed by PWD officials at their own or with the help of Delhi Police, District Magistrate, MCD etc. but in no case, de-silting should be avoided as this leads to flooding. Similar situation was found in Rajendra Nagar where students died due to flooding of water in the basement as drain could not be de-silted due to encroachment,” it said.

Overflowing drains should be checked for probable blockages at the last point of overflow downstream and de-silted immediately, it said.

It said de-silting once is not sufficient as floating mass is continuously coming into the PWD drain. Therefore, all the drains should be kept de-silted all the time by deploying necessary labour and super sucker machines etc., it added.

Photographs and videos of before and after de-silting should be kept on record, as per the SOP.

Independent monitoring teams will be constituted to verify the de-silting done in each division during the rains and submit the report to the headquarters, the memorandum said.

If there are basements near "vulnerable locations", it should be reported to the concerned district magistrate, Delhi Jal Board, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, fire and other departments for taking suitable action to ensure that all safety measures are in place in such building, it said.

"All assistant engineers/junior engineers and executive engineers should ensure that there is no exposed or unprotected wire at any place. There are instances of regular theft of cover of poles etc. and such areas should be protected regularly by covering with tapes, covers etc.," it said.

"If there is any installation in the area which is prone to flooding, its level should be raised. The instances of theft/damaged of electrical/civil assets in the RoW of PWD roads should be regularly reported to the Delhi Police. Areas where there are more chances of theft, CCTV cameras may be installed, if possible," it said.

According to the SOP, sufficient numbers of permanent pump stations are there at underpasses and at vulnerable locations. All the pumps should always be functional without fail, it said.

"The functionality and availability of temporary pumps should be ensured on daily basis and recorded and all field staff should be on alert, communicate with control room and send photographs of the vulnerable locations about the action being taken during the rain," it said.

Arrangements should be made to repair damaged roads within a maximum of six hours using proper material to avoid any accident, the memo said. PTI NIT NIT SKY SKY