Health Minister reviews monsoon readiness in city

With the monsoon season approaching, Health Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting with senior Delhi Jal Board officials and engineers to review city’s drainage preparedness and strategies to curb waterlogging and vector-borne diseases. The review meeting was held at the Delhi Secretariat, with a special focus on Vikaspuri, a region identified as highly vulnerable to flooding during heavy rains.

Officials were instructed to deploy modern cleaning equipment such as hydro jetting machines, automatic desilting systems, and super sucker machines for thorough cleaning of sewer lines and stormwater drains. “Pre-monsoon preparedness must be swift and robust. There will be zero tolerance for negligence in ensuring Delhi is monsoon-ready,” he said.

Special emphasis was laid on Vikaspuri, where Singh ordered immediate repair of damaged pipelines, covering of all open manholes, and expedited completion of pending sewer pipeline works in areas like Om Vihar and Vidya Vihar.

He called for enhanced coordination between the Health Department and the DJB to contain the risk of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya.