Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday directed the Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to immediately provide the list of drains desilted by June 10 and ensure an independent third-party audit of these works is conducted by June 30. On June 5, Bharadwaj had instructed Kumar to send a report of the desilting progress reminding him of the water logging situation in the national capital of the last monsoon season. In the review meeting dated June 10, concerning the desilting process, PWD had claimed that out of 2156 km drains about 61 per cent of drains i.e. 1293 km drains have been completely de-silted. Similarly, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had also claimed that 87.14 per cent of drains taken under Ph.-I have been completely de-silted. "Therefore, it is directed that all the claims of the desilting by the agencies like PWD and MCD should be audited by the third party independent agencies. It is also worth noting that these claims must be verified well before the monsoon arises in the City because once it rains in the city, the department will take excuse that the silt in the drains has been deposited recently due to rains," Bharadwaj stated. He said a few years back the Petitions Committee of Delhi Legislative Assembly had taken up this matter of desilting of drains.

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