AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday vowed to eliminate Delhi’s sewer issues, and announced a comprehensive plan to overhaul the capital’s sewer lines in the coming five years if AAP is re-elected to power.

With claims of making progress on this front during the past decade, the AAP chief promised the repair of all sewer lines and the replacement of aging pipelines on a war footing across the city.

Advertisement

Assuring residents of swift action, he urged them not to panic and pledged to address pending issues rapidly after returning to power.

Addressing a virtual press conference on Saturday, the former Delhi Chief Minister stated, “When our government was formed for the first time in 2015, we inherited several problems, one of the major ones being the issue of sewer systems. There are 1,792 unauthorized colonies in Delhi. Before 2015, no developmental work was allowed in these colonies due to orders from the Supreme Court and the Central government. We overcame all these hurdles and started development work in all the unauthorized colonies,” he claimed.

According to him, the unauthorized colonies had no sewer pipelines, so all the sewage used to flow through drains and streets, making people’s lives miserable and that, after coming to power it was the AAP government which has over the past 10 years, laid sewer pipelines on a large scale in almost all these colonies.

He further added that after laying the pipelines, the government is now working on connecting every household to the sewer system.

AAP chief further mentioned that existing sewer lines in the city have become old, and complaints are coming in from different areas regarding overflows, blockages and leakages, while at some places there is even contamination of drinking water happening due to sewage.

Kejriwal said,” I have decided that when our government is formed again, we will replace all old, leaking, or damaged sewer pipelines in Delhi on a war footing to resolve these problems permanently.”

Meanwhile, talking of the current situation of drains and sewer systems in Delhi, especially in the unauthorized colonies across the city’s rural belt, the condition is deplorable.

Locals from places like Mundka and several other places, especially in outer Delhi say that they have to deal with overflowing sewers, drains that have made streets and roads nearly inaccessible on foot, while they have to walk in dirty muck and water.

There are many places where water logging has become a major problem, making such places a breeding ground for diseases.

At some places, several lines have been laid for a long time, however, they are yet to function, due to pending final work of connecting them to the main line.