PWD directed to fix drainage at Dhaula Kuan

The Delhi government on Tuesday directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to upgrade the drainage system of the Dhaula Kuan area to make it able to cater to heavy rainfall of up to 100mm per hour, and ordered that additional water pumps be deployed in the locality as an interim measure.
The development comes days after a large portion of the road under the Dhaula Kuan flyover was inundated by rainwater on August 23 — on a day when parts of the city logged up to 70.5mm of rainfall between 8.30am and 2.30pm. The waterlogging disrupted vehicle movement from south, west, and central Delhi towards the Indira Gandhi International airport and Gurugram, and led to massive snarls on the Ring Road.
On Tuesday, PWD minister Atishi inspected the Dhaula Kuan site which was inundated last week, and said that she has directed officials to increase the capacity to pump rainwater out from the area.
“Today, an inspection was carried out here with PWD officials to ensure that such a situation does not arise again in the future. I have instructed the officials to increase the pumping capacity here through mobile pumps and design the drainage as per rainfall of 100mm per hour,” she told the media.
A senior PWD official, on condition of anonymity, said that the main reason for waterlogging at the Dhaula Kuan site is its depression, which is shaped like a bowl.
“Due to heavy rain in just a few hours, the water from the rest of the roads also collected here due to its shape… We will make short-term and long-term solutions to remove waterlogging from this point. In the short term, the pumping capacity will be enhanced by deploying mobile pumps in sufficient numbers so that there is no waterlogging in future and people do not have to face problems,” official said.
In the long term, the agency will redesign the drainage system and expand the carrying capacity of drains, the official said.
Rajesh Arora, who regularly travels between Delhi and Gurugram, said, “The route through Dhaula Kuan is congested even on normal days, but rains make it a nightmare to cover. Besides structural changes, the road also needs more deployment of traffic police.”
Meanwhile, the flooding episode has once again raised concerns about the preparedness of civic authorities to handle the aftermath of spells of intense rain.
Experts said inadequate clearance of drains was the most probable cause of the waterlogging problem. S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division of CRRI, said that Dhaula Kuan is not a low-lying area, and it should not be getting flooded during spells of moderate rain.
“PWD needs to have a relook at the entire catchment area, as new buildings have come up along with a Metro corridor. It also needs to be seen whether additional discharge and flow of rainwater has been taken into account while developing these buildings. Based on the new catchment flow, drain pipes need to be redesigned,” he said.
Velmurugan also noted that Dhaula Kuan — a high elevation area — could only have flooded if drain desilting exercises have not been carried out, or if the outflow of drains is disrupted.
“A target to cater to 100mm of rainfall is good especially when such brief and intense spells of rain are getting increasingly frequent,” he added.