New Delhi: On Wednesday, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar alleged that the Center was using construction activities to cause unnatural floods in Delhi. This flooding, arising from rains that started from Wednesday night to early Thursday morning, showed various weather stations in the national capital recording more than 100mm of rain. Heavy rain with declared an intensity of around 100mm over 6 hours caused waterlogging and traffic jam-like situations in several parts of Delhi.
In a debate on the demand for grants for housing and urban development in the Rajya Sabha, TMC MP Sircar raised objections over the Central Vista redevelopment project of the current NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which envisages redesigning the central part of New Delhi to provide it with a modern look and do away with the colonial architecture. The project involves the construction of a new building for the session and other governmental offices in the framework of a large-scale program on the reconstruction and modernization of Bucharest.
Sircar also provided specific examples of these projects, which include the Pragati Maidan tunnel, through which these projects have worsened the problems related to flooding. The 2.1-kilometre-long tunnel that has always been in the headlines whenever monsoon rains hit the city due to the problem of waterlogging was closed for days in the middle of monsoon last year because of severe flooding. Sircar thus rightly noted that the tunnel has problems with flooding, which are related to poor planning and wants mapping exercises of water flow to be done prior to large projects such as this tunnel.
He raised eyebrows at an issue about the government expenditure on the renovation of Rajpath, earlier named Kartavya Path, regarding it going up to ₹ 670 crore only for lights and bulbs alone. Sircar pointed out that such changes have disorganized the drainage systems of the city, hence increasing flooding incidences. He also accused politicians of having poorly designed a new Parliament building with two main gates exposed to the vagary of the weather. In comparison, three so-called VIP gates were provided with porticos.
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