Mughal-era engineering emerges as two arches of Barapullah drain bridge cleared of garbage

Buried under decades of waste and neglect, a slice of Delhi’s Mughal-era engineering has begun to breathe again. The irrigation and flood control (I&FC) department has cleared two of the three water bays—arched openings—of the Barapullah drain that runs under the nearly 400-year-old Barapullah bridge, restoring water flow and marking the first major clean-up effort on the structure in decades.

Once a key stormwater conduit for the city, the drain had been choked by years of unregulated dumping and encroachment, reducing its capacity to just 10%, officials said. As part of a wider desilting drive that began in August 2023, over 1.4 million metric tonnes of silt have now been excavated from the Barapullah stretch, they added.

“After the removal of encroachments, the I&FC department has widened the drain’s right bank and opened two of the three water bays under the bridge. The arches were blocked due to complete administrative neglect. This is the first major cleaning in decades,” said irrigation and flood control minister Parvesh Verma.

The third bay remains clogged, officials said, due to an electricity tower located at its mouth.

The clean-up followed a Delhi high court order on May 9 this year, directing action against encroachments along the Barapullah drain. A demolition drive was subsequently carried out at Madrasi Camp, between the Old Barapullah bridge and the railway line, allowing for drain widening and silt removal on the right bank.

The Barapullah drain is one of Delhi’s three major drainage basins, along with the Najafgarh and Trans-Yamuna drains. While desilting work on the Barapullah stretch began last year, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) also initiated conservation of the heritage bridge above. Restoration gained momentum after Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena visited the site in August 2024. During the visit, the LG flagged how key city drains, designed to carry nearly a quarter of Delhi’s stormwater load, were functioning at below 10% capacity. He ordered 24×7 deployment of cleaning equipment, with special focus on the Barapullah, Kushak, and Sunheri drains.

At the time, the bridge had become indistinguishable from the fringes of the Madrasi colony in Jangpura-B, its corridor converted into a makeshift market. HT had earlier reported that phase one of the restoration has been completed over the past nine months, which focused on clearing the site for conservation.

Built in 1621-22 during the reign of Mughal emperor Jahangir, the Barapullah bridge originally spanned a Yamuna tributary—now a drain that runs alongside Nizamuddin Basti. The structure once served as a ceremonial route for the Mughal court. According to Delhi and Its Neighbourhood, a 2001 ASI publication, the bridge comprises 11 arched openings and 12 piers, from which it is believed to derive its name—Barapullah, or “twelve piers”. Each pier is topped by a two-metre-high minar (tower).

The article appeared in hindustantimes