Three boys, aged 10 to 13, who went for a swim in a flooded part of Northwest Delhi’s Mukundpur, drowned in a ditch on Friday.
The victims have been identified as Nikhil, 10, Piyush, 13, and Ashish, 13. All three of them were residents of northeast Delhi’s Jahangirpuri.
The water of the Yamuna river submerged the periphery of Rajghat and even reached the roads around the Supreme Court on Thursday night after a water regulator device broke down.
The AAP government blamed the BJP-led Centre and the Haryana government for the situation. On the other hand, the Opposition parties questioned the Delhi government for inadequate relief to thousands of displaced people even as volunteers of parties and social organisations augmented the government’s efforts to distribute relief material to homeless people on the streets and in relief camps.
Things came to a head during a joint media briefing by Delhi’s lieutenant governor V. K. Saxena and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers. After Saxena explained how the central forces were now at work to repair the failed regulator device in Indraprastha Estate and jammed gates of a barrage nearby, irrigation and flood control minister Saurabh Bharadwaj intervened saying, “Thank you but had the NDRF reached at night, it would have been better.”
The LG retorted: “I would like to tell you that this is not the time to blame someone or make comments. Right now, we need to work as a team. I too can say a lot of things but this is not needed right now.”
Later, Kejriwal slammed Haryana for the sluice gates of the income tax office (ITO) barrage being jammed.
He said: “Five out of 32 gates are closed at the ITO Barrage. These are managed by the Haryana government. Because of their closure, the drainage of water is getting obstructed further. Together with the navy and army we are trying to open them. I myself went to the spot in the evening and talked to the team. With the opening of these gates, the flow of water will be able to increase further from Delhi.”
The Yamuna’s waters continued to fall gradually, although its level at the city’s Old Railway Bridge — an index of the river’s wrath — remained at 207.98 metres at 11pm on Friday, higher than the warning mark of 204.5 metres. One of the city’s three water treatment plants that had been submerged on Thursday, was restored on Friday.
The capital’s main water utility Delhi Jal Board’s vice-chairman Somnath Bharti said: “The Hathnikund barrage (in Haryana) is responsible for releasing water into the following three divisions: the Eastern Yamuna Canal, which flows towards Uttar Pradesh; the Western Yamuna Canal, which flows towards Haryana; and the Yamuna itself, which flows towards Delhi. Despite the unprecedented flood situation, no water was released towards Uttar Pradesh or Haryana through the canals. Instead, the majority of the water was diverted towards Delhi, exacerbating the situation that was already bad because of the incessant rainfall earlier.
He added: “The current situation in Delhi is not solely a natural disaster but a BJP-made disaster… The BJP’s hostility toward the people of Delhi is evident, and their actions during this calamity are a direct result of their vindictiveness for the people’s love for AAP.”
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal hit back by saying: “Whenever the Delhi government is unable to work, he (Kejriwal) remembers Haryana. Hathnikund barrage is not a dam. The barrage is a water regulating system with low capacity. As soon as more than 1 lakh cusecs of water comes, the water comes out of it. Because of the flow of this water, some districts of our state have also been affected. As the water moves further, it will affect Delhi and then our districts of Faridabad and Palwal.”
