New Delhi: On June 16, the Indira Gandhi International Airport recorded 117.8 mm of rainfall in four and a half hours between 1 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. The water-logging that occurred subsequently forced passengers to wade through knee-deep water, crippled the baggage handling system and affected X-ray machines, elevators and escalators. It was an unfortunate situation for the airport operator — Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) — as it came a few days after IGI received the title of the second best airport in the world.
What followed was finger pointing between the airport operator, government agencies such as the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and villagers in the adjoining areas of Mahipalpur and Rangpuri. While DIAL claimed flight operations carried on unaffected, they attributed the flooding to “choked stormwater drains” on the periphery of the airport. The clogging, they said, was caused due to sewage water entering these drains.
The PWD, which built the peripheral drain, said the airport’s internal drainage system was unable to handle the water. The department said it wanted to see the internal drainage system’s map but the requests were ignored.
For its part, the DJB claimed that the commissioning of its sewage treatment plant in Kapashera has little to do with the airport since it is not for managing stormwater. As for the villagers in the area, they said when pillars were constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for elevated corridors, several drains were broken, leading to acute water-logging in these parts.
25/08/13 Sowmiya Ashok/The Hindu
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What followed was finger pointing between the airport operator, government agencies such as the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and villagers in the adjoining areas of Mahipalpur and Rangpuri. While DIAL claimed flight operations carried on unaffected, they attributed the flooding to “choked stormwater drains” on the periphery of the airport. The clogging, they said, was caused due to sewage water entering these drains.
The PWD, which built the peripheral drain, said the airport’s internal drainage system was unable to handle the water. The department said it wanted to see the internal drainage system’s map but the requests were ignored.
For its part, the DJB claimed that the commissioning of its sewage treatment plant in Kapashera has little to do with the airport since it is not for managing stormwater. As for the villagers in the area, they said when pillars were constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for elevated corridors, several drains were broken, leading to acute water-logging in these parts.
25/08/13 Sowmiya Ashok/The Hindu
