Delhi CM Kejriwal writes to Amit Shah on Yamuna

The rising water levels have flooded several neighbourhoods in Delhi, such as Majnu ka Tila in the north and Badarpur Khadar in the south.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday afternoon wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah after the water level of the Yamuna rose past the 207.55m mark at 1pm, seeking his intervention to reduce the flow of water released from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana.

A view of the swollen Yamuna as its water level crosses the danger mark in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)

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He, however, later clarified that Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat informed him that Hathnikund is a barrage and not a reservoir, so there is no provision to stop the flow of water, but the amount of water being released upstream from Himachal Pradesh has decreased, and the effects in the Capital will be felt later.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, alleged that the arrangements made by the Delhi government for the flood mitigation and rescue operations are “insufficient”.

The Yamuna water level had reached 208.08m at 11pm.

The rising water levels have flooded several neighbourhoods in Delhi, such as Majnu ka Tila in the north and Badarpur Khadar in the south. Kejriwal, in his letter in Hindi, said the amount of water being released by Haryana needs to be controlled to prevent further flooding in Delhi.

“It has not rained in Delhi for the last three days. The water level in the Yamuna in Delhi is not increasing due to the rain in Delhi, but due to the water released from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana. It is my humble request that the flow of water from the Hathnikund barrage be released at a slower rate so that the water level of the Yamuna does not rise further,” Kejriwal said.

The CM also noted that the Capital is set to host the G20 Summit soon, adding that “the news of flooding in the national capital will not send a good message to the world”. Separately, he said, “I spoke to minister Shekhawat. He informed me that at Hathnikund, there is only a barrage and there is no reservoir, so there is no provision to stop the flow of water over there. But he also informed me that the amount of water being released in Himachal Pradesh has decreased slightly, and the effect of this will be felt in Delhi a little later. Meanwhile, yesterday a lot of water had been released from there and the effect of it will only be felt in Delhi after 24 hours. So, for the time being, we are expecting the water levels in the river to rise further.”

Data from Haryana said that the water flow of the Yamuna at Hathnikund was 127,800 cusecs at 5 pm — down from 133,429cusec at 1pm. This was a drop from the 309,526 cusecs on Monday morning, officials said.

RS Mittal, superintending engineer (irrigation-Hathnikund) said the barrage is a facility created to distribute water according to the decided share of different states, including Delhi.

“Hathnikund is a barrage and not a dam where water can be stored up to a particular level… Had there been a facility here to store water beyond a certain limit, we would not have been releasing water which is scarce for Haryana,” Mittal said.

At a press conference at 5.30pm, Kejriwal said, “The danger level of the Yamuna in Delhi is 205.33 metre. At this moment, the water has breached this level and it is at 207.71. The last time the water level in the river was so high was in 1978, when there was a flood-like situation and the water had reached a maximum of 207.49 metres. At the moment, unfortunately we have surpassed this 45-year-old record.”

He added, “Our attempt right now is to make sure that we do everything possible to save the lives of the people in the low-lying areas... I would like to appeal to the citizens living in these areas to not delay the process and leave their houses at the earliest.” PWD minister Atishi said nearly 50 boats have been deployed at a distance of 2km each from Palla to Okhla Barrage to help people in need.

Read here: Rising river water level leaves large areas vulnerable in Delhi

The BJP criticised the government, with its Delhi unit chief saying arrangements by the AAP government are “insufficient”, adding that the party has set up relief camps in neighbourhoods near the Yamuna in neighbourhoods such as Yamuna Bazar, Sabhapur, Ghonda Third Pushta, Garhi Mandu, and Gandhi Nagar.

(With inputs from Chandigarh)