DDA revamp drive at fault for Nehru Place flooding: Traders

Basements of several buildings in Nehru Place flooded during last Wednesday’s heavy rains, and traders have blamed the mess on poor site management by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which is undertaking a comprehensive redevelopment of one of the city’s key business hubs.

Inder Kohli, a member of the Nehru Place Welfare Association, said, “Last Wednesday, basements of close to 20 buildings, including the cloth market, were flooded. Traders had to deploy people to pump out the water. DDA has dug up the market for redevelopment work. The market is haphazardly dug up and the pace of work is so slow.”

Traders also alleged that DDA has not upgraded the stormwater drain network.

“The rain water harvesting points are not constructed properly and are leaking. There is no drainage plan. We have the transformers in the base. It is so risky if the basements get flooded,” said Kohli.

The authority started the ₹99-crore redevelopment work at Nehru Place in 2019. The work includes the revamp of plaza, facades, strengthening of storm water drain system and construction of toilets.

A senior DDA official, however, said the basements of private buildings were flooded due to seepage.

“DDA has close to 10 buildings in the market and no flooding was reported from there. Most of the buildings in the market have been constructed by private developers and property owners have to get the seepage problem fixed. The flooding has nothing to do with the ongoing development work,” said the official who asked not to be named.