Sewer backflow swamps North Delhi

NEW DELHI: Residents of Mukherjee Nagar, Bela Road and Civil Lines woke up to overflowing toilets and sewage on streets on Thursday as a massive backflow led to waterlogging in several parts of north Delhi.
With the Yamuna in spate, gates of many sewer lines had been shut a few days ago to prevent the water from flowing into these. However, this led to sewage accumulating in the pipes, leading to a spillover into homes and streets.Residents complained that 4-5 feet of sewage had accumulated on a few roads, causing not only traffic problems but also serious health concerns.
Amit Khurana, a resident of Mukherjee Nagar, said the entire ground floor of his house had about two feet of sewage.
``On Wednesday morning, the toilets started overflowing. It led to a huge mess in the entire house and a terrible stench. We called the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) helpline but were told that nothing could be done about it. All morning, my wife and domestic help threw out the water in buckets but it did not help since the toilets kept overflowing for a long time.''
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi helpline too got several distress calls all through Wednesday as basements and ground floors got waterlogged. ``We were out of the house during the day and when we returned around 3pm, found that our first floor was under a few feet of water. Initially, we thought that it was the Yamuna water but then neighbours said it was sewage. This problem occurs quite frequently when the river floods but it has never been this bad,'' said Anjali Mishra, a resident of Civil Lines.
Irrigation and flood control officials said they had asked DJB to pump out the sewage and release it in the main drains, but DJB officials said they couldn't do much at this point of time.
DJB CEO Ramesh Negi told TOI: ``We are locally pumping out the sewage but there is nothing else that can be done as long as the river is in spate. Irrigation and flood control had to shut off the gates to prevent the flood water from entering the sewage lines but the accumulated sewage is now coming out through toilets and manholes. When the river flooded in the first half of September, we had to close down the Coronation Pillar sewage treatment plant but this time we haven't done it so far.''