Heavy rain in northern India and the release of 8.28 lakh cusecs water from the Hathnikund barrage by Haryana on Monday caused flood-like situation in the low-lying areas of the national Capital with the river Yamuna flowing at 205.36 metres, breaching the danger mark of 205.33 metres.
Around 10,000 people have been evacuated from floodplain and shifted to relief tents erected by the Government agencies, a senior official said.
So far 2,120temporary shelters have been set up, where food, water and other amenities are being provided by Government agencies. To reach people, the Delhi Government also provides helpline numbers: 22421656 and 21210849.
Taking precautionary measures, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to residents of Yamuna floodplains to shift to government tents. “The water level in Yamuna is expected to cross the danger level (205.33 meter) by today evening, since Haryana has released 8.28 lakh cusecs of water,” requesting not to panic since the government is taking all possible steps to combat evolving flood situation,” Kejriwal said.
“Since Haryana has released 8.28 Lakh cusecs of water on Sunday evening and excess water will reach Delhi within 36 to 72 hours,” Kejriwal said.
On the direction of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Delhi Traffic Police also closed the Old Yamuna Bridge (Lothian bridge) to avoid any casualty.
Recalling past incidents of floods, Kejriwal appealed to people residing floodplains to shift in tents and not to return till water recedes.
Earlier in 2013, Haryana had released 8.06 Lakh cusecs of water that had resulted in raising the water level to 207.3 meters.
“Next two days are very crucial. We are monitoring the situation”, said the Chief Minister. He also said that Delhi Government is coordinating with the Central Government and the Lieutenant Governor’s office and all concerned agencies. The entire government machinery is focused in tackling this emergency situation in the next two days as every life is precious for the government, the Chief Minister said.
The river was flowing at 205.2 metres in Delhi at 3pm. Haryana released 1.87 lakh cusecs water at 2pm on Monday and 1.79 lakh cusecs was discharged from Hathnikund barrage at 3pm.
Along with Home Minister Satyendar Jain, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev, CM Kejriwal conducted high level meeting with all the concerned departments to monitor the situation and review the preparedness.
“Delhi not to panic as the government is taking all possible measures to effectively deal with the situation, which may affect residents of low lying areas in six districts (North, North East, Shahdara East, Central, and South East) where Yamuna flows through,” Kejriwal said.
