Bad drainage, no desilting chokes Capital, says study

NEW DELHI: A few days of rain this week was enough to clog the roads of the city with kneedeep water followed by incessant traffic jams.

A study by IIT Delhi revealed that improper drainage system and the lack of a comprehensive mechanism for desilting top the list of reasons for traffic jams in Delhi.

The study revealed that several roads across the Capital do not have properly designed slopes to help drain out rain water. A list of 56 arterial roads has been identified with the problem.

“There is a major problem with the drainage design and curves in many major roads which causes knee-deep water. This is the reason why a brief spell of rain is enough to bring the city’s traffic to a standstill. Since we cannot redesign the roads, the solution would be to acquire proper desilting mechanism to drain out water,” said Dr D Parathasarathy, visiting faculty at IIT and head of the research.

He said that improper drainage and water logging proved to be the reason behind at least 60% of the traffic snarls in the period of April to September. The study was conducted in 2015. Excessive and unchecked water logging not only adds to the jams but over a period of time it also wears down the surface of the road.

Sri Aurobindo Marg, Adchini Road, South Extension (Ring Road), Safdarjung Development Area, Khajuri Khas, Sarai Kale Khan, Moti Bagh intersection (below the flyover), Pankha Road (towards Sagarpur), Okhla main road, and Jamia Nagar intersection, are among the few roads which have featured in the list.

The list of roads and the findings of the study will be examined by a panel of experts comprising urban city designers, civil engineers, environmentalists, and representatives from all the road owning agencies — Public Works Department (PWD), the three municipal corporations (north, south, and east), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and the Delhi Cantonment Board.

The final plan will also be sent to the Delhi Traffic Police and will later be developed into a comprehensive master plan for desilting drains.

“If this plan is approved then this can be a basic draft which all the civic and road owning agencies will have to follow before the onset of monsoons,” Parathasarathy said.