New Delhi, July 13 -- A draft of the new drainage master plan for Delhi will be ready in the next 15 days, Public Works Department (PWD) minister Parvesh Verma said on Saturday, adding that survey reports and suggestions from consultants appointed a year ago will be incorporated in the draft. After assessing the draft, work will begin to revamp the drainage system of the Capital that was laid over 50 years ago. "We have received the report for the Najafgarh basin while reports on Barapullah and Trans-Yamuna basins will also be submitted in about 15 days. After we have all three reports, we will start the work on revamping the drainage network of Delhi. We have seen that drains are in dire need for repair and upgrade. We will start with the priority areas where urgent interventions are needed," said Verma. Notably, Delhi primarily has three large drainage basins - Najafgarh, Trans-Yamuna, and Barapullah.The drainage plan has remained long overdue as it was last prepared in 1976. A new plan was initially proposed in 2009, but has not seen any progress as yet. In May 2023, the PWD finally appointed a consultant for making a drainage master plan for Delhi's Najafgarh basin - largest of the three basins. The consultant was given one year to complete the project, which has recently been submitted. Officials said that based on the recommendations by the consultants, PWD will check the feasibility and prepare estimates, which will then be sent to the government for approval before work begins. Bids were also floated to appoint consultants for the other two basins about six months later. "Meanwhile, if there are local suggestions, we will try to implement those along the way," a PWD official said. According to estimates by PWD, the city's old drainage system can cater to a maximum of 50mm rainfall in a day. Anything more than that overwhelms the system, resulting in flooding of arterial roads....