In an unprecedented action for a municipal body, the chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Manoj Dwivedi, used X to offer a public apology to the residents impacted by the unprecedented waterlogging in the capital city. Instead of dodging the issue, the high-level bureaucrat admitted that infrastructural delays following heavy rainfall caused the paralysis of certain areas in the elite district.
“I sincerely apologise to everyone who faced difficulties in the NDMC area due to waterlogging on August 25, 2026,” the chairperson declared in his official post. He further admitted that although the teams usually manage to drain the trapped water within 15 to 20 minutes, due to abnormal weather conditions, they exceeded the time limit of one hour in multiple regions.
Unprecedented rainfall overwhelms drainage networks
The region was hit by unprecedented rains, which dumped over 72 mm of rain in less than two hours. Instead of giving an excuse due to abnormal weather, the chairperson refused to accept excuses.
Accountability first: Dwivedi said that the abnormal rainfall cannot be accepted as a long-term excuse for the failures of the municipal corporation.
Systemic changes: The NDMC administration is going to upgrade the local engineering system aggressively in order to avoid bottlenecks.
Long-term fixes and civic involvement
To win back the faith of the people, the NDMC administration decided to open up the lines of communication between the residents and authorities.
Multi-phased plans: The authorities have planned to implement engineering changes in a multi-phase manner throughout the municipal region in order to quickly drain out the water during cloudbursts.
Public input: Dwivedi has invited public inputs on social media in order to identify the vulnerable spots.
The reactions of the people through social media were highly appreciative of the unprecedented display of institutional accountability.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply