Delhi’s 21-Day Clean-Up Blitz: PWD Vows to Banish Waterlogging and Filth

Delhi’s Public Works Department (PWD) has launched an ambitious 21-day special drive to clean drains, roads, and flyovers, aiming to transform the capital’s public spaces and restore faith in the department’s efficiency. The campaign, announced by PWD Minister Parvesh Verma, comes on the heels of the city’s second-highest single-day rainfall in over a century, which exposed chronic waterlogging and debris issues across major arteries and underpasses.

Key Highlights:

The initiative aims at overall road cleaning, drain desilting, and clearing of garbage and waterlogging, particularly near flyovers and areas prone to waterlogging such as Golf Links, ITO, Dhaula Kuan, and Minto Bridge.

The strict deadline has been given by Minister Verma: preventive monsoon work and city-wide desilting has to be done by May 31, with no dirty patches or waterlogged area to be left behind.

Accountability takes precedence-both junior and senior engineers will be answerable for negligence, and the PWD's "blame-game" culture is being tackled firmly.

The campaign also entails clearing encroachments, rubbish, and anti-social behavior from under flyovers, and suggestions are invited on utilizing these spaces more constructively.

High-tech equipment, such as super sucker machines and new sump wells, is being utilized for comprehensive drain cleaning and rainwater management.

The project is part of an overall city-wide cleanliness drive, with daily checks, open tendering, and a zero-tolerance policy on delays or poor work.

PWD officials have been instructed, "Every job must be of quality, at the correct rate, and delivered in time." The department is bent on changing its reputation for inefficiency and getting Delhiites to notice visible, long-term changes.

Sources: Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Times of India