Officials in parliamentary panel blame each other for Delhi's waterlogging crisis

By Ashoke Raj
New Delhi [India], July 23 (ANI): A meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development was held here on Thursday wherein the case of a person's death at waterlogged Minto Bridge, on July 19, was raised.
Three Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials present in the meeting said, as per the sources, that the Minto Bridge area falls under the jurisdiction of Delhi Public Works Department (PWD).
One of the committee members present at the meeting questioned the Delhi government for their preparedness in the three-month lockdown for the waterlogging issue during monsoon.
Officials of Union Urban Development Ministry, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), MCD and Delhi Jal Board were also present at the meeting.
Besides the Union Urban Development Ministry, NDMC, MCD and Delhi Jal Board, officials from the Union Home Ministry, the Chief Secretary of Delhi, Delhi PWD and the Ministry of Urban Development of the Delhi government are also expected to attend the next meeting.
An inquiry will also be made into the work of the civic bodies and the person's death at waterlogged Minto Bridge following incessant rainfall in the national capital on July 19.
A bus also got stuck in a waterlogged road under Minto Bridge, following which fire department personnel arrived at the site to rescue people on-board.
Standing committee on Urban Development is headed by Lok Sabha MP Jagdambika Pal. (ANI)