Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh on Thursday blamed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for persistent flooding in Kirari, north-west Delhi, accusing it of neglecting sewer line installation for a decade.
The Minister said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would lay the much-needed sewer lines, complete the work by June, and make Kirari free of waterlogging within a year.
The waterlogging crisis in Kirari has sparked political debate. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had posted a video online of residents of Kirari’s Sharma Enclave wading through knee-deep sewage.
During a press conference, Mr. Singh presented videos he claimed were filmed during the AAP’s tenure, highlighting the persistent waterlogging that plagued the area.
The Minister said that in the Kirari Assembly constituency, which has a population of 10 lakh, sewer lines were not laid until 2020. He added that after the Lieutenant-Governor stepped in, the Delhi Jal Board started laying sewer lines in 114 unauthorised colonies in the area.
Mr. Singh said the deadline to complete the work was December 2024, but it remained stalled due to “administrative failures” and a “lack of coordination” under the previous government.
“Projects were sanctioned on paper, but execution was abandoned. Contractors stopped work due to non-payments, and sewage continued to flow into open drains,” the Minister said.
Mr. Singh said the government is also working on a new stormwater drain to manage the excess rainwater in the area.
In response, AAP said the waterlogging in Kirari was caused by “deliberate administrative neglect”. AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “BJP-controlled DDA has, over the past six to seven months, dumped garbage from the Bhalswa landfill on vacant land in Kirari, choking the area’s drainage routes and effectively submerging entire neighbourhoods.”
