File on comprehensive desilting pending with minister Bharadwaj for months: Sources

New Delhi: A file on a proposed comprehensive plan for desilting of drains in the city, prepared by a three-member committee comprising the MCD commissioner, PWD principal secretary and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO, has been pending with Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj for months, official sources claimed on Monday.

However, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Bharadwaj claimed that the file has been approved on April 29 this year and will be implented post Monsoon.

Earlier in the day, Bharadwaj in a press conference hit out at the Delhi Chief Secretary and other IAS officers claiming they did not pay attention to the desilting of drains even as he raised the issue in his official correspondence since February this year.

The sources, on the other hand, said that the file which included a proposal on drainage management of 18 main drains under a unified authority for desilting and maintenance was pending with the minister since August 2023.

The fresh spat between the AAP ministers and bureaucrats in the Delhi administration came amid a blame game over the death of three IAS aspirants after the flooding of a basement in a coaching centre on Saturday. Encroachment on storm drains has been cited as one of the reasons for the incident.

A workshop of different departments of the Delhi government was held in July 2023 by the Chief Secretary. Based on its deliberation, the three-member committee was formed that came up with a comprehensive proposal on August 7, 2023.

The proposed plan included consolidation of drainage management of 18 drains flowing into Yamuna under one authority for de-silting and maintenance and a master drainage plan for Delhi by the DJB, sources said.

This proposal was put up with the joint signature of all three officers to the Chief Secretary on August 8, 2023. Afterwards, the proposal was sent to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharadwaj on August 21, 2023, they said.

After five months, the minister sent the file back to the Principal Secretary (Irrigation and Flood Control) asking for a meeting of all stakeholders and demanding a presentation, they said.

The file was again sent to the minister on April 8, 2024, and the proposal is still lying pending with him, they claimed.

However, the minister rejected the claim.

"LG Office is claiming the decision is awaited as file is pending with Minister. They should know that file was approved long back.

"Even Order has been issued vide F.16(918)/UD/W/2024/021769737/2545 - 2575 dated 29 April, 2024 with the Subject as 'Order assigning the responsibility, management and operation of twenty-two (22) open drains which out falls in river Yamuna to I&FC, Department as a single agency'.

"And this will be implemented post Monsoons. Right now, respective agencies have to take care of desilting their drains," Bharadwaj posted on X.

The proposal suggested that drains of residential colonies should be managed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), DJB, DDA and DSIIDC, in view of delayed response time during floods faced by the city due to overflowing Yamuna.

The committee also cited the need for a Storm Water Drainage Act for the city, having penal provisions for encroachments, dumping of construction waste, municipal solid waste, and industrial waste into these drains.

The irrigation department was to prepare the draft of the Act and an advisory group was already formed, sources added.