Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Saturday inspected the progress on the ongoing airport drain project, which aims at providing relief from flooding and waterlogging in and around the IGI Airport and the adjacent Dwarka sectors during the monsoons.
The project will also ensure hassle-free movement of delegates and dignitaries visiting the national capital during the monsoon months for the G20 Summit this year.
This major drainage project that would channelise the rain and stormwater discharge from the IGI Airport to Najafgarh drain, is being executed by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the guidance of the L-G, who has ensured seamless inter-agency coordination.
This has resulted in the fast-pacing of tasks as a result of which the project is expected to be completed by June 2023.
This major project had been stuck for the last two years due to pending permissions for tree cutting/translocation from the Delhi government.
After the L-G's intervention, permission for tree translocation was given and the work on the airport drain commenced on November 20, 2022.The L-G, who has already undertaken five visits to the Airport Drain in the last three months, inspected the construction site of the culvert beneath the railway track and the site at Dwarka Sector-8 today and directed the officials to enhance the manpower and other resources to complete the drainage work at the earliest.
It is pertinent to mention that the existing 2 drains at the IGI Airport have proven insufficient for discharging the huge amount of rainwater from the airport which has often resulted in severe waterlogging in and around the IGI Airport during heavy rains and thus causing disruption and cancellation of flights for several days and major inconvenience to the passengers.
Heavy waterlogging even forced the closure of the IGI Airport on several occasions.
This also caused flooding in the adjoining Dwarka Sector 8, which houses several prominent government organizations.
During the L-G's visits to Dwarka, the residents also complained of crippling waterlogging in several areas.
DDA, at the same time, is also creating 5 water bodies in the Dwarka region that will be used for storing the overflowing rainwater during the monsoons.
Once completed these water bodies will have a total storage capacity of 1.22 lakh CuM of water that will prevent the rainwater from flooding onto the streets.
Saxena said, "The construction of the airport drain along with the creation of water bodies would be a big relief for the air travellers and the local residents of Dwarka."
"During the monsoon, the overflowing water from the airport as well as from the streets of Dwarka could be channelised to these water bodies," the L-G added.
The airport drain will be capable of discharging 70 CuM of water per second during the peak rains.
The drain would start from inside the IGI Airport premises, pass beneath the railway tracks through a broadened culvert adjoining the airport boundary in Dwarka Sector-8 and would connect to DDA's Trunk Drain-2 (TD-2) that would further channelise the rainwater to Najafgarh drain.
The airport drain will be 20 meters wide and will have a depth of 2 meters.
( With inputs from ANI )
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