By Tanya Chugh

New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): Delhi Public Works Department Minister Parvesh Verma inspected roads and drains in the Trilokpuri and Patparganj assembly constituencies on Friday. During the inspection, he found shortcomings regarding the cleaning and maintenance of roads and drains, after which he suspended an Executive Engineer, Ramashish Singh.

He said, 'It is the job of PWD to clean drains, but that is absolutely not being done. So, I have ordered the suspension of XEN (Executive Engineer) here. All officers have been clearly told that if they do not work properly, action will be taken. We can't leave Delhi, our capital, like this.'

He inspected the roads and drains starting from New Ashok Nagar Metro station, followed by Chilla village in Trilokpuri and Certain areas of Patparganj assembly. Officials from Jal Board, PWD, and Municpal Corporation of Delhi were also present at the spot.

The Minister spoke to ANI about the inspection and highlighted problems that came to the fore and how he seeks to resolve them. He said, 'There are several issues. We saw encroachment at several locations. We have directed for removing encroachment because if everyone encroaches above drains, its cleaning won't be possible and the water won't pass during monsoon and enter the houses.'

Minister Verma further said, 'This situation is across Delhi. All such problems are being identified, and officers are being directed to resolve these issues. Desilting of all drains will be done before the monsoon on war footing so that water passes through drains instead of entering houses. Our priority is to finish this before the monsoon.'

The newly elected Delhi government has been emphasising the cleaning of drains and sewage and plans to desilt them before the monsoon arrives as water logging becomes a serious problem in the state.

On March 16, Delhi LG VK Saxena, Chief Minster Rekha Gupta and PWD minister Parvesh Verma inspected the three major drains of Delhi, including drains at Barapulla, Sunehri Pull Bus depot and near Dayal Singh College. The procedures to desilt them have also begun. (ANI)