The Hindu (Delhi)

‘Not me’: MCD, DDA spar over who is in charge of drain where mother, son drowned

A day after a woman and her eightyearo­ld son drowned in a drain after a heavy rain spell, the Delhi Developmen­t Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporatio­n of Delhi (MCD) traded charges over the incident, with each agency claiming that the responsibi­lity of maintainin­g the drain lay with the other.

Tanuja and her threeyearo­ld son Priyansh slipped and fell into a waterlogge­d drain near Khoda Colony in Ghazipur around 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

While the civic body claimed that “the DDA has constructe­d the drain”, the urban body said, “The tragic incident happened in the area pertaining to MCD”.

The deaths also prompted a war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP. AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said the deaths were not accidents but a “murder”. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said the incident highlighte­d how the city’s sewage and stormwater drainage systems “have completely collapsed”.

The Congress said Delhi Ministers should take emergency steps to pre

As per sources, drain belongs to DDA, said Mayor; DDA claimed the drain had been handed over to MCD

vent the recurrence of such incidents instead of “indulging in blame games”.

As per the statement issued by the DDA, the total length of the drain along the Khoda Colony is 1,350 metres. Out of this, 1,000 metres was handed over to the MCD a “considerab­le time ago”, it said. “The remaining 350 metres of the drain… is under the jurisdicti­on of the DDA,” stated the urban body.

On the other hand, Mayor Shelly Oberoi said, “As per sources, the drain belongs to the DDA. We will give orders to officials to investigat­e the matter and present a report.”

AAP held a protest against the Lieutenant­Governor, who is also the DDA Chairperso­n, near the site of the incident. “The DDA under the LG is directly responsibl­e for this incident,” said Mr. Singh.

Hitting back, Mr. Sachdeva said, “Not even a single truck of silt was disposed of by the Irrigation Department, the PWD, and the DJB. This indicates that no desilting work has taken place.”