India, May 27 -- With less than a week left to meet the May 31 deadline to complete pre-monsoon desilting of drains, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has completed less than half the work on the city's major drains-raising serious concerns about waterlogging once the monsoon hits.

The capital has already received a grim preview of what's to come. On Sunday, several parts of the city were inundated following a spell of torrential early morning rain, exposing the gap between official claims and on-ground preparations.

According to the MCD's latest status report dated May 23, just 42.82% of the desilting work has been completed across 800 large drains spanning 530.82km. The target for phase one of the desilting drive, which began o...