Monsoon plan: PWD to deploy teams at 9 subways, 5 flyovers in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Public Works Department (PWD) has identified nine subways and five flyovers in south Delhi that are prone to waterlogging during the monsoon.
The department will deploy teams equipped with water pumping sets to prevent inconvenience to the public. The flyovers at Chirag Dilli, IIT-Delhi, and Panchsheel will be prioritised, and other locations across the city will also be identified for similar measures soon.

In the past, the department has implemented such measures at several underpasses where water accumulates.Each team will consist of four pump operators, an electrician, a wireman and regular staff. They will be deployed mainly between June and Sep. These teams will also look into other aspects such as illumination of pedestrian subways
As part of its monsoon preparations, PWD has also overhauled automatic stormwater management systems at four key locations in central Delhi — Pragati Maidan, Minto Bridge, Azad Bhawan, and ITO.
Three of these places experienced flooding and had malfunctioning water management systems during last monsoon.
PWD also plans to start real-time online monitoring of major pump houses with a tender floated to initiate surveillance through software at the pump house on Mathura Road.
This stretch, starting in front of Supreme Court and extending up to gate numbers 6 and 7 of the Bharat Mandapam, is a waterlogging hotspot and a VIP area.
Last year, during the G20 Summit, PWD installed CCTV cameras on this stretch for digital monitoring.
In collaboration with the power department, PWD is developing contingency plans to ensure the availability of backup power for operating water pumping sets in case of power outages caused by flooding. Although bodies such as PWD, DJB and MCD develop a monsoon action plan every year, there are still several waterlogging hotspots where heavy flooding occurs, causing significant disruption to traffic movement.
There are 1,037 stormwater drains along the PWD-managed road network of 1,400km. The official deadline for completing the desilting was the end of May but the work is not complete yet. According to PWD, the operators deputed at these locations and efforts will be made to attend to complaints within eight working hours.
In addition to this measure, quick response teams have been deployed at crucial spots in the city to rush in just in case there is heavy rain and there is waterlogging.