The basement of the Old Rajender Nagar coaching institute got flooded not because of the collapsed drainage alone but also due to massive, mindless and indiscriminate concretization of the roadsides and roadberms in the area.
In fact, most similarly-situated buildings got flooded because of the massive surface concretization/paving which does not allow any water infiltration and causes 75-95 percent of the rainwater flowing off as run-off into the drains, which get overflowing.
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Would the ground surfaces been grassed/vegetated/landscaped, a very minuscule or no run-off would have been caused, and that load on existing drainage would not have been caused. The buildings would, consequently, have been secured.
The present scale and magnitude of waterlogging and local flooding in Delhi and NCR can be tremendously minimized by deconcretizing the open areas, roadsides and roadberms and converting them into permeable spaces by undertaking grassing, surface vegetation (herbs, shrubs etc.) and green landscaping, as also suggested by expert authorities like CPCB and CGWA.
Immediate directions must be issued in this regard by the Central government as well as Delhi Government.
