The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has begun the desilting work and cleaning of drains ahead of the monsoon season while devising a comprehensive action plan to ensure the timely completion of this task before the commencement of the upcoming monsoon season this year.

 A total of 4460.2 metric tons of silt has been successfully removed from drains measuring four feet and above across all 12 zones of the civic body. The silt taken out from the drains is being sent to the landfill site and its monitoring is being done.

The maximum cleanup of slit has happened from South Shahdara zone with the removal of 875 MT slit followed by 856.93 MT from Central Zone and 667.56MT from South Zone. The MCD has a total of 12 zones under its jurisdiction which includes Rohini Zone, City SP Zone, Civil Lines Zone, Karol Bagh Zone, Narela Zone, Keshavpurm Zone, South Zone, West Zone, Najafgarh Zone, Central Zone, Shahadara North Zone and Shahadara South Zone.

With adequate numbers of equipment/machinery for taking out silt from the drains and well trained personnel, desilting work has commenced and is being carried out in a prescribed manner. Silt removal is underway in 695 drains spanning a total length of 452.72 kilometres.

During the rainy season, sediments including mud, sand and sludge gets deposited in the bed of drains which causes obstruction of the water to flow smoothly resulting in the overflow of drainage. The Civic Agency aims that cleanliness of drains will minimise civic woes during the rains as the majority of drains in the city are interconnected.