Ten drains to be landscaped by 2009

NEW DELHI: With an eye on the Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government has gone full throttle not just in creating infrastructure, but beautifying drains as well. The flood and irrigation department has shortlisted 10 drains that will be beautified by 2009.
In phase-I, two drains including 9 km of Bhalswa drain from GT bypass to Wazirabad and 2.6 km of Mayur Vihar drain will be cleaned and maintained.A decision was taken in this regard in a meeting held on Monday. The project will commence by next month. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit chaired the meeting, also present were environment minister Raj Kumar Chauhan along with the officials from the flood and irrigation department.
The project cost is approximately Rs 2 crore. "The CM has asked the department to complete phase-I which will be reviewed before the rest are taken up," a senior official said. According to officials, the civil work on drains will be started by March and is estimated to be complete by monsoon. "Tree plantation will be done during the monsoon and the survival rate of the trees monitored," the official said.
The complete list of drains include supplementary drain (length 9.5 km), new drain (1.5 km), trunk drain 1 (1.4 km), trunk drain 2 (3.9 km), Jehangirpuri drain (5.4 km), Pankha Road drain (5 km), Palam drain (3.8 km), Mungeshwar drain (9 km), Najafgarh drain (25 km).
The CM has also ordered a cost-benefit study for the purchase of new machinery including dump barrages and dredges. "At present, dragline technology is used for cleaning drains," an official said.