Parts of Delhi flooded again — while Rs 150 crore for drain repairs went unused till August 31

This is as per the capital expenditure status report for 13 major government departments and other smaller ones.

Written by Gayathri Mani

New Delhi | September 6, 2025 12:06 PM IST

In the past few days, the Yamuna river has breached the 207-m mark, inundating houses, disrupting traffic and families living near the river. (Source: File)

The Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department did not spend a single penny of its allocated budget of Rs 150 crore for remodelling drains to control flooding till August 31, the capital expenditure status report for 13 major government departments and other smaller ones shows.

The report is prepared periodically to check the status of projects and the money spent on them. Earlier this week, the Chief Secretary chaired a meeting with all heads of departments to review budget expenditure and asked them to expedite projects and expenditure. He has also directed them to hold regular review meetings.

I&FC Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh did not respond to calls or messages seeking a response.

After forming the government in Delhi in February this year, the BJP had announced a Budget of Rs 1 lakh crore in March.

The report shows that the I&FC department, which manages the three big drains — Najafgarh, Trans-Yamuna Basin, and Wazirabad — has spent only 14% of the total allocated budget of Rs 313 crores for 2025-26.

In the past few days, the Yamuna river has breached the 207-m mark, inundating houses, disrupting traffic and families living near the river.

The I&FC department is supposed to manage drainage on a large scale to prevent flooding.

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The quarterly report of the capital expenditure also shows that 13 major departments and other smaller ones have spent only about Rs 5,902 crore, or 21% of the allocated Rs 28,115 crore.

Capital Expenditure is funds allocated to departments for infrastructure projects and the development of physical assets for future benefits.

The 13 major departments include PWD, Urban Development, Transport, Health and Family Welfare and I&FC.

The Urban Development (UD), which provides loans and funds to MCD and DJB for execution of capital projects and schemes, has spent 55 % of the Rs 5,039 crore allocated for the year 2025-26.

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The document also shows that the government has paid a hundred percent loan to DJB for the rehabilitation of sewerage under the Yamuna Action Plan III, Delhi Government.

The data further shows that the health sector, which is one of the key focus areas of the BJP government, has only spent 2% of the Rs 753 crore budget allocated to the Health and Family Welfare department for the current year.
“The health department has not approved the funds for the construction of five pending hospitals… There are also plans to complete these on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode,” said a government official.

The document also shows that Rs 2,667 crore has been allocated to the Directorate of Health Services. Of this, Rs 1,000 crore was allocated to capital projects schemes under health funded by the Government of India, and Rs 1,666 crore for the PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM). The department has only spent 2% of the allocated budget. It also shows that the funds for the PM-ABHIM scheme have been shifted to revenue from capital funds.

PWD, which manages 1,400 kms of city roads, has spent 17% of the Rs 3,180 crore Budget as several flyover projects are being planned.

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