Political parties should treat waterlogging as a key issue and set aside their rivalries to try and solve the problem amicably, Delhi’s voters believe.
“The problem of waterlogging can be resolved if all the authorities concerned sit together and discuss drainage infrastructure,” Manas Raj Bhadoria, a businessman in Patel Nagar, said.
The Congress, BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party have all promised to improve the sewerage system in their election manifestos.
“Of course, waterlogging is an issue, one of the many fallouts of poor diagnosis and lazy problem-solving on the environmental front,” Moulshree Joshi, an architect and member of Warrior Moms, said.
She said that party candidates, unfortunately, seemed to interpret and address waterlogging as a road-widening, concretising, drain-cleaning issue, offering quick fixes to pacify complaining residents’ welfare associations.
“I live near the Yamuna; construction on the riverbed and around the peripheral roads of my colony has peaked over the years. Most houses are being rebuilt with basements,” Joshi said.
“We are experiencing flooding and slower drainage during the monsoon months but are yet to find a (political) party that (wants) to address the matter in a holistic way.”
Joshi said water scarcity, floods and the daily stench of the nullahs were an everyday reality for most Delhi neighbourhoods. “Yet, only those aspects (of public life) that attract eyeballs are being discussed — water bills, the tanker mafia and pollution in the Yamuna during Chhath Puja,” she said.
Conflicts between the authorities are common over waterlogging and its attendant problems, a businessman in Old Rajender Nagar, Satish Kumar, said. He recalled the blame game between the ruling AAP, lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena and the BJP after three students drowned in the basement of a nearby coaching centre, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, trapped by flash floods last July.
As the tragedy sparked an outcry, Saxena accused the state government of misgovernance. The AAP government said officials had not cleaned the drains despite being told, and that the power to punish them lay with the LG and not the state government.
AAP legislator Durgesh Pathak accused the BJP of ignoring the drainage system during its 15 years at the helm of municipal bodies. “Such a tussle between the authorities will not lead anywhere. Instead, it may lead to another unfortunate incident,” Kumar said.
He said he had lost hope in political leaders: “If they genuinely want to bring in change, they must sit together and draw up a foolproof plan.”
Harish Chandra, a Seelampur resident, said the blame game between the authorities was disheartening. “If every department discharges its duties responsibly, such incidents can be avoided,” he said, stressing that drains should be cleaned regularly.
Waterlogging also disrupts traffic, causing financial losses to food delivery agents and the drivers of e-rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and cabs.
Mahesh Yadav, an auto driver who lives in Sarojini Nagar, said: “Waterlogging causes financial losses and delays, and damages vehicles.”
An e-rickshaw driver said: “The losses we suffer often outstrip our earnings.”
Kamal Kishore, an east Delhi resident who delivers food, said travel becomes challenging during the monsoon months. Delays in delivery often lead to frustrated clients, who sometimes cancel the order, he said.
“When food orders are cancelled, we sometimes have to bear the cost,” he added.
A civil service aspirant in Rajinder Nagar felt the problem resulted from mismanagement and rapid urbanisation. “Unplanned constructions have obstructed the drainage channels,” he said.
