New Delhi [India], April 18 (ANI): Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma on Friday asserted the need to resolve waterlogging issues in the national capital ahead of the monsoon season.Verma said drains are being cleared and pump stations are being set up in many areas of the national capital. He further added that Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has directed all departments to fix the waterlogging points before the monsoon. "Three topics were discussed in our meeting with CM Rekha Gupta today. In 2023, the Delhi Police had notified us about 308 sites plagued by waterlogging. In 2024, we were notified about 194 such sites, of which most of the locations were under the PWD," Verma said."In many locations, drains are being cleared, pump stations are being set up and made automatic, and operators are being deployed wherever there was a lack of them. Delhi Police had notified us about 233 points of traffic congestion. Steps are being taken to resolve this issue. The Delhi Police have identified 3,088 dark spots, and work is underway to install lights there. The CM has directed us to fix the waterlogging points before the monsoon," he added.Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, accompanied by Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Verma, conducted an inspection of key waterlogging-prone locations in the national capital, including the Minto Bridge area, on Friday.Speaking to reporters at the Minto Bridge site, Chief Minister Gupta said, "We have come to Minto Bridge to inspect the area where a whole bus had got submerged due to waterlogging. To prevent a similar waterlogging situation and to find a timely solution, we have come here. Pumps which switch on automatically when the water level rises have been installed here. Water pump operators will be deployed here for all 24 hours during the rainy season."Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Delhi government launched an inspection drive across several schools under the supervision of the District Magistrate (DM), issuing notices to 10 schools and initiating the process of derecognising institutions found to be in serious violation of norms.During the inspections, the DM was accompanied by senior academicians and officials from the Directorate of Education.Notably, India is likely to receive above-normal rainfall during the 2025 southwest monsoon season, according to a long-range forecast issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).According to the IMD, currently, neutral El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions are prevailing over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. However, atmospheric circulation patterns are similar to those observed during La Nina phases.A press release from the IMD noted that there is a strong probability, estimated at 59 per cent, that the southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall will fall into the "above normal" or higher category, defined as more than 104 per cent of LPA.The forecast was generated using the Multi-Model Ensemble (MME) approach based on climate model initial conditions from April 2025. The MME includes a group of coupled climate models that have demonstrated higher prediction skill over the Indian monsoon region.The probabilistic forecast shows that most parts of India are expected to receive above-normal rainfall during the monsoon season. (ANI)