On July 8, Delhi witnessed highest rainfall in a day in 20 years. Since it was a weekend, some people were lucky enough to enjoy the rain sipping a hot cup of coffee within the comforts of their homes, but others were not that fortunate. Many commuters had to wade through waist-deep water due to the extensive water logging on the roads and streets. Those with vehicles spending hours in the traffic jam wondered whether the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) sense of time was as slow moving as the vehicles on the road. For the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in its 2017 election manifesto had promised to take up the issue of cleaning of drains on top priority.
In its manifesto, it had said, “Immediate repairs and cleaning of the storm water drainage system across Delhi will be undertaken. Keeping in mind this year’s monsoon, the task of cleaning and repairing of drains will start within 1 week of AAP coming to power in the MCD. Thereafter, these repairs and cleaning will be done regularly and periodically, at least three times during a year.”
Yet, AAP does not seem to realise that six years have passed since the residents of Delhi have been waiting for the party to fulfil its promise. During this period when BJP had won the municipal elections, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had desilted over 1,300 km of drains in Delhi between 2017 and 2022. It had also constructed over 100 km of new drains in Delhi during this period and installed over 1,000 pumps in Delhi to help drain water during heavy rains. So, in effect all AAP had to do was to efficiently run a system that was already put in place by competent leaders and officials. But the incessant rains and the resulting chaos ended up serving as a reminder of the incompetence of those elected to power in Delhi.
When during the season’s biggest rain of 2022, the road in front of the then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s house became flooded, there was a general expectation that the party will not let one of its own be troubled. Though that idea quickly burnt to ashes ever since Sisodia’s arrest, the apathy that the party has for its own people as well as the general public is deplorable. The flooding and submergence of the city’s major intersections proved that all the promises made by AAP were as futile as their existence in India’s polity.
Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Atishi Marlena and Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi repeatedly claimed that officials were “instructed” to make all necessary arrangements to prevent waterlogging and traffic jams, especially in areas prone to such issues. Going by the pattern of how AAP has been making lofty promises ever since they came to power, it comes as no surprise that mere “instructions” were not enough in getting the work done. It required diligent planning and overseeing. With how life was brought to a stand still with just a day’s heavy downpour, it is clear that desilting of drains was either done just for namesake or none of the concerned departments found it to be an issue that was worth their focus and decided to completely ignore it. Forget the small drains but it seems even the major drains like Barapullah, Eastern, or Najafgarh drain were never cleaned.
At an MCD House meeting on 9 June 2023, MCD’s engineering wing admitted that it could not been the initial deadline of 15 June for completing desilting of drains and could only clean 55 per cent of the corporation’s bigger drains. The agencies responsible for cleaning the drains seems to have siphoned off hundreds of crores without doing any concrete work. MCD has allocated a budget of over Rs 13.76 crore to desilt drains across the Capital. All that money seems to have gone down the drain.
This is in stark contrast to last year when MCD which was ruled by BJP had completed 100 per cent desilting by 25 June 2022. With the weather predictions coming well in advance and 2,064 km of drains coming under PWD, it will be interesting to see how AAP evades responsibility this time.
The weather forecast says that monsoon showers will last another four to five days in Delhi. As always AAP will have no guilt in putting the residents’ lives on hold and finding a scapegoat for their incompetence. For AAP, the welfare of citizens is the least of its concerns and the party’s leaders will probably see this as a political opportunity to attack their opponents. However, there is a silver lining in the present situation – the residents of Delhi have learnt that it is possible for time to stand still and life need not always be a mad rat race. This may perhaps prove to be a valuable lesson as the city tries its best to emerge out of the flood waters on its own.
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