Trash piled during strike now clogs drains

Officials said PWD spends around Rs 35 crore on desilting every year but will now have to spend around Rs 2 to 4 crore more, the PWD official added.

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Garbage blocks a drain in Patparganj. (Source: Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Just when the strike by sanitation workers of East Municipal Corporation has come to an end and heaps of garbage are being removed, Delhi seems to be in for another crisis.

With the onset of monsoon round the corner, garbage accumulated during the strike has found its way into drains in parts of east and north Delhi, forcing the Public Works Department to start the process of desilting in the area all over again. In parts of east Delhi, particularly near Patparganj, plastic bottles and bags have clogged drains, PWD officials said.

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“The type of garbage thrown into the drains forces us to carry out de-silting all over again. We had finished almost 90 per cent of desilting work. We will probably have to extract the trash manually because of all the plastic,” a senior PWD official said.

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Officials said PWD spends around Rs 35 crore on desilting every year but will now have to spend around Rs 2 to 4 crore more, the PWD official added.

Corporation officials, however, denied any role in the trash entering the drains. “Garbage had been picked up by our sanitation workers and we had provided trucks and other vehicles for lifting. Over 10,000 metric tonnes was lifted from East Delhi,” a senior corporation official said.

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