PWD builds huge sump, installs pumps to prevent waterlogging at Delhi's Pul Prahladpur underpass

The Public Works Department has built a huge sump at Pul Prahladpur underpass here and installed additional motor pumps to ensure waterlogging does not take place there during this monsoon season, officials said on Monday.

The underpass, which is among PWD's seven critical waterlogging points and also a crucial link between southeast and south Delhi, gets inundated every monsoon and is shut for vehicular movement leading to traffic snarls.

Traffic movement was shut at the underpass after it was inundated during the first monsoon showers on June 30.

In May this year, a man also drowned in the waterlogged Pul Prahladpur underpass.

PWD officials said the capacity of the sump constructed at Pul Prahladpur underpass, located on Mehrauli Badarpur (MB) Road, is 7.5 lakh liter which will help in solving waterlogging issue there.

A senior PWD official said several ''problem-specific'' solutions have been taken to solve the issue of waterlogging at Delhi's seven critical points.

At the Pul Prahladpur underpass, the main cause of waterlogging is an overflow of a nearby sewer line of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the official said.

''To overcome this issue, we have completed construction of a huge sump having 7.5 lakh liter capacity and have also laid a separate pipeline to discharge the stormwater in a nearby MCD nullah. ''A permanent pump house having six motors with a capacity of 100 horsepower each has also been set up here to ooze out water and clear the underpass,'' the official told PTI.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had last year announced that city's drainage system will be ''overhauled'' and made ''world-class'' with the help of ''tailor-made solutions'' for different locations on the lines of remedial measures taken for solving waterlogging at the Minto Road underpass.

The PWD official said the underpass is a low-lying bowl-shaped area that gets flooded during heavy rains because of overflow in the DJB sewer line. This water then accumulates in the underpass and apart from this, the stormwater from nearby colonies also comes to the passageway, the official said.

''Since the sump has been constructed, all this water will go to the sump. We will discharge this stormwater into a nearby drain through additional pumps and a recently laid pipeline. This remedial measure will surely allay the fear of waterlogging at Pul Prahladpur underpass,'' the official added.

Another official said apart from these arrangements, seven temporary pumps will also be installed there, having a total capacity of 500 horsepower, while CCTVs cameras and alarms have also been installed for constant monitoring.