A familiar ring: Waterlogging woes near Chirag Dilli

New Delhi: On the Outer Ring Road stretch near the Chirag Dilli road intersection, water has been accumulating for the past several days. It is reminiscent of the monsoon. The standing water is in some way connected to at least four agencies: PWD, DJB, MCD and DMRC. Yet, there is no solution to the problem since last year. The water leakage is on the road stretch in front of the metro station, under the intersection of the Chirag Dilli flyover on the opposite side on the road towards Nehru Place. On Tuesday, in a spot check, TOI found commuters wading through a pool to reach the intersection."We have been hearing about this old water pipeline, which is often broken and leaks. Sometimes the supply to our drinking water line is also mixed with dirty water. Last year, water had accumulated on the Chirag Dilli side of Outer Ring Road. It is a recurring problem that govt needs to fix. Because of this and other issues, the condition of the road is deteriorating. We heard plans about repairing the road, but on the ground, not much has been done," said Chetan Sharma, chairman of the Federation of GKII Complex RWAs.The Public Works Department (PWD), which manages the road, blamed Delhi Metro. It said the problem was due to a faulty pipeline in a public toilet complex inside the Chirag Dilli metro station area. "As the water is now damaging the road, we are working with both DMRC and DJB to find a solution. This has happened in the past. The DJB pipeline is old and prone to damage. We are looking into solutions. For now, we have deputed a team to clear the water from the road," a PWD official said.DMRC, however, rejected PWD's claim and said that it was working to solve the problem. "The water leakage is from a toilet located outside Gate No 4 of the metro station. This toilet is operated by MCD. Due to waterlogging in this facility, DMRC has already lodged a complaint with DJB for taking necessary action on priority," DMRC said in a statement.DJB and MCD did not respond to queries by TOI.Last year, residents also reported the problem. It was close to the monsoon when water started spouting near the public toilet and flooding the road. However, last year, the source of the problem was at two spots on Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg. One of these spots was repaired last year, but the main leakage of the pipeline on the roadside still exists. This is a spot on the green zone beside a white marble peacock statue, installed as part of the street beautification, which has turned into a pool due to a continuous stream of water. A hole has been made in the wall behind it to channel the accumulated water away from the road to open spaces. However, that does not seem to be helping. A kilometre-long section of it was revamped by PWD under the ambitious ‘streetscaping project' under the previous govt.