Will develop drainage systems, roads in unauthorised colonies: Kejriwal

New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the AAP government will construct roads, sewer, stormwater drains, and water pipelines simultaneously across all unauthorised colonies in the national capital.

"We will take up the work of constructing roads, sewer, stormwater drains and water pipelines in a single time frame in all unauthorised colonies of Delhi," Kejriwal said.

"As per the concept, there will be no drains on the roads, instead, all the stormwater and household water will go directly in the underground pipelines, recharging the water table," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief added.

This, he said, will lead to a decrease in dengue and malaria cases in the national capital as clogged open drains would be eliminated. 

Kejriwal was on a visit to North East Delhi's Kanjhawala village along with Health Minister Satyendar Jain to inspect the development work of two model colonies -- selected by the Delhi government -- to test the concept of constructing all four systems (water pipelines, sewer, stormwater drains and roads) together.

Talking to IANS, a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) official, said working on the four systems simultaneously "would avoid overlapping of work and reduce costs".

In this model, he said, "we have completely removed stormwater drains and developed a rechargeable structure". 

"We are also developing a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for a particular colony in Kanjhawala so that all the sewage from that area is treated there and then," he said.

The Delhi government officials also demonstrated how the system will work in Kanjhawala's Punjab Khor village by releasing water on the roads to test whether the water gets absorbed.