India News | Delhi LG Inspects Desilting Work in Najafgarh Drain
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday entered the Najafgarh drain in a motor boat and spent an hour inspecting the desilting work being done there, an official statement said.
New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday entered the Najafgarh drain in a motor boat and spent an hour inspecting the desilting work being done there, an official statement said.
It claimed that after Tuesday's visit, Saxena became the first L-G ever to enter the drain where work was being done using the partial gravitational desilting process instead of the conventional method.
Also Read | Delhi Govt To Bring Food Truck Policy on Lines of US, UK, Says Manish Sisodia.
Saxena entered the drain in a motor boat near Punjabi Bagh and spent over an hour inspecting the dredging work in about one km area, it said.
After taking over as L-G, Saxena has been consistently stressing and working towards cleaning the much maligned drain and converting it into an eco-tourism hub, it said.
In the conventional method, the silt is removed from the drain and put on both banks of the drain, which incurs a major cost, it said.
While some amount of silt is transported in trucks, a large quantity flows back again into the drain with rainwater. Further, a part of the silt flowing back into the drain gets carried away with the water while most of it gets deposited at the bed which renders the entire desilting process almost futile, the statement said.
However, the concept of partial gravitational desilting uses the flowing water in the drain itself to take the silt away by loosening and churning it instead of physically removing it as is being done till now, it said.
The churning of the thick silt deposit is being done with the help of non-conventional floating equipment and contraption modified with raker and spikes attached to the boats, the statement explained.
If the flow of water is fast enough, then the suspended silt can easily be taken along, thereby effecting natural desilting, it added.
Najafgarh Drain is 57-km long with as many as 121 smaller drains discharging sewage into it. The annual silt deposit in the drain is to the tune of 2 to 2.5 lakh cubic meter and at present approximately 85 lakh cubic meter of silt is deposited in the drain, it said.
The Najafgarh drain was initially designed as a gravity flow drain. But during surveys, it was found that two major humps were formed in the drain over a period of 40-45 years that have a total of 45 lakh cubic meter of silt deposit, it said.
The height of these humps vary from six feet to 12 feet, which blocks the normal flow of the water. As a result, a huge quantity of drain water also spills into the neighbouring areas and thus pollute the surroundings, it said.
The dredging corporation of India was roped in to remove these humps but the entire exercise turned out to be voluminous and time-taking. Hence, it was decided to use the partial gravitational desilting process that is not only cost-effective but also relatively easier to execute it said.
The L-G also directed officials to use this concept on a larger scale post trials and exploit the technical parameters of the drain to the advantage.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)