The water level of the Yamuna River, which was overflowing, is slowly going down and things will return to normal if there is no heavy rain, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday. Even though the water level of the Yamuna River was slightly lower than Friday’s level, some parts of Delhi were still under water on Saturday. Kejriwal also said that the Chandrawal and Wazirabad water treatment plants will start working by tomorrow as the machines are no longer submerged.
The water level was 207.53 meters on Saturday morning, which was still 2.20 meters above the danger level but less than Friday’s level of 208.35. Kejriwal also tweeted that people should not go to waterlogged areas for swimming, playing or taking selfies. He said, “Some people are going to the water to play, swim or take video/selfie. Please don’t do this. This can be deadly. The flood risk is not over yet. The water is flowing very fast. Water can rise anytime.”
Meanwhile, Delhi PWD Minister Atishi Marlena on Saturday asked the Chief Secretary (CS) to immediately solve the problems of water and toilet shortage, electricity and food quality in flood relief camps. The minister asked CS to take action against any officer who was negligent and caused trouble to people in these camps.
Atishi said that the people of Delhi will get relief from the flooding in next 24 hours and blamed the BJP government in Haryana for releasing Yamuna water from Hathnikund Barrage. She said that all the water was sent to Delhi and not a single drop of water was sent to the canals to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. She said, “Haryana will have to answer for this. Could the flood situation in Delhi have been prevented?”
Delhi’s ITO, Rajghat And ISBT Still Flooded
The areas that are still flooded include ITO, Rajghat, ISBT, and Mathura Road. On Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that a diver had opened the first gate of the ITO barrage after 20 hours of hard work. The diver had to go deep to remove silt using a silt compressor. But since the other gates were still closed, the river water kept reaching the main road.
The Yamuna river reached its highest level in 45 years at 208.65 meters on Thursday. Other important areas of the city such as Mukherjee Nagar, Model Town, Civil Lines and Majnu Ka Tila, also faced severe waterlogging. On Thursday, the water had reached near Kejriwal’s house.
