WFH, interstate bus advisory: Top points after DDMA meeting on Delhi floods

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, in a tweet, requested people to help each other in this emergency situation.

With Yamuna river levels breaching the danger level, a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority was held at the LG Secretariat on Thursday to assess the deluge in the city. Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena chaired the meeting which was attended by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the vice-chairperson of DDMA. Revenue minister Atishi and irrigation and flood control minister Saurabh Bhardwaj were also part of the review meeting along with senior officials from police, NDRF, CWC and IMD.

Flood hit people take shelter near a bridge as the swollen Yamuna river floods low-lying areas, in New Delhi, Thursday, (PTI)

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Kejriwal had earlier said the water level in the Yamuna was constantly rising and spilling onto the nearby roads, urging people not to go there. He also requested people to help each other in this emergency situation.

However, the water level of river Yamuna has been stable for the last three hours after continuously rising for the past four days. It stood at 208.62 metres at 1 pm and 2 pm on Thursday.

Read: Delhi gutter, nothing free; this is the price: Gautam Gambhir amid AAP vs BJP over Yamuna flood

The following decisions were taken at the meet:

1. Those evacuated from flood-ravaged regions will be moved to government school buildings in the vicinity.
2. Relief camps should be prepared with adequate amounts of food, water, first aid and mobile toilets. Proactive relief and precautionary measures to be initiated in areas prone to flooding like Sonia Vihar, Mukherjee Nagar, Haqeeqat Nagar etc.
3. Educational institutions and non-essential government offices across Delhi will be shut till Sunday. Commercial organisations in and around Kashmere Gate have been asked to suspend operations till the situation improves.
4. Private offices have been urged to give work from home permits for employees.
5. Buses arriving at Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) and Kashmere Gate - which were flooded on Thursday - will halt at Singhu Border. Passengers can commute to their respective destinations from there by availing Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) services.
6. Additional forces to be deployed to manage traffic snarls in flood-affected parts.
7. Only heavy vehicles with essential items will be allowed to enter borders at Chilla, Loni and Badarpur.
8. In addition to the 12 NDRF teams currently operating in the city, more forces have been arranged to assist in rescue operations.
9. All control rooms have been asked to coordinate to better tackle emergencies.
10. Crematoriums, which remain open, should be prepared in lieu of some establishments shutting down owing to the rise in water level.
11. Distribution of water to be rationalised to ensure uninterrupted supply as water treatment plants at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla have been shut.
12. Medical establishments should be in a state of preparedness to handle any eventualities even after the flood water recedes.
13. Citizens have been advised to stay at home and avoid stepping out unnecessarily.

Read: Why is Delhi flooded? Encroachment of floodplains, extreme rainfall | Explained

On Thursday, key parts of Delhi, including the Secretariat which houses Kejriwal's office, witnessed massive flooding despite no fresh rainfall. The road from Rajghat to Delhi Secretariat was also under water.