New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Claiming that problems related to rainwater collection in the city were much less than previous years, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday conceded that waterlogging did pose problems in some areas earlier but that was largely due to three spells of record downpour. Talking to mediapersons, CM Gupta said a record quantity of 30 lakh metric tonnes of silt was removed by the Delhi government and other agencies to prepare the drainage system for the advancing Monsoon.

“The desilting work done in Delhi this time has been historic," she said, adding that nodal officials have been appointed for all trouble spots, and they are going to be held responsible for lapses. "Waterlogging has been happening in Delhi for years, but this time, despite record-breaking rainfall occurring three times, the situation in the city was brought under control. The water was drained from all the drains in a timely manner within an hour,” she said, complementing all departments for their efforts.

The scale of waterlogging in the city is much less this year due to our regular monitoring, she said, promising to further improve the facilities for tackling the flow of rain water. “When there is sudden rain, several cubic metres of water come onto the road. It will naturally take around an hour for the water to drain away. But there is no complaint of waterlogging for a long period causing problems, and we will not let this happen,” she said.

CM Gupta’s comments about rainwater drainage follow the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) attack on the BJP government after Sunday’s overnight thunderstorm and the subsequent waterlogging complaints from some areas. According to IMD, Delhi recorded wind speeds of up to 82 km/h and 81.2 mm of rainfall in just six hours between 11.30 p.m. on Saturday and 5.30 a,m. on Sunday. Amid the political slugfest, Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena on Sunday commended the efforts of the Rekha Gupta government to desilt drains and focus on preparing the city’s drainage system to handle rainwater flow during the advancing monsoon.

In a social media post accompanied by videos showing rainwater flowing in large drains, the L-G said, “The morass set in due to neglect of more than a decade will take considerable time getting fully sorted, but the new government's efforts at governance are indeed gratifying.”