Delhi govt to take over ITO barrage operations

Haryana will transfer ITO barrage operations to Delhi, enhancing flood control and water management in the Yamuna, following past flooding issues.

The Haryana government has agreed to hand over operations of the ITO barrage to the Delhi government, senior functionaries of the Delhi government said. This will lead to two barrages along the Capital’s Yamuna section to be maintained by Delhi government — the Wazirabad and ITO barrages.

The Yamuna flows in spate at ITO in New Delhi on August 8. (PTI)

With this change, the city government will be able to control the flow of water in the river channel in Delhi via two of the three barrages and therefore improve the flood preparedness. Further, more projects may be planned in the future to improve connectivity across the river, a senior government official explained.

To recall, the ITO barrage was at the centre of controversy in 2023 when floods inundated the city after five gates of the barrage were jammed.

Delhi’s water minister Parvesh Verma said that in a recent joint meeting with the Haryana government, it was also agreed upon by both parties that the Delhi portion of the Munak canal will also be maintained by the Delhi government. The minister however clarified that the barrage will not be decommissioned as all of its gates are fully functional and there is no obstruction in the water flow at all.

“The barrage may be used in future plans where water diversion may be required,” he added. Notably, the barrage was constructed for providing water to the thermal power plants in Delhi which have long been decommissioned.

A barrage is a structure across a river or a large drain with sluice gates which control the water flow through it. The 22km stretch of the Yamuna between the Wazirabad and Okhla has three barrages — Wazirabad, Okhla, and ITO — being managed by governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana (until now), respectively.

The jamming of ITO barrage gates was cited as one of the contributing reasons behind the flooding episode observed in July 2023. There are 32 such gates on the barrage that connect east Delhi via Vikas Marg. The five regulator gates at the ITO barrage were found to be lying jammed due to lack of maintenance and accumulation of heavy silt at the bottom, thereby reducing the outflow of water downstream, officials said. Delhi government had finally sought the help of army and navy divers for opening the gates.

Looking back, the ITO barrage was built by the Punjab government in the 1960s, when Haryana was part of Punjab. Water through the barrage was provided to two thermal units of Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited (IPGCL) in Delhi.

The diverted water was used to meet cooling requirements for Indraprastha power station and Rajghat power house. “After Haryana formed in 1966, maintenance of the ITO barrage was given to the Haryana Irrigation Department. The money for the maintenance of the barrage was initially paid by Indraprastha power plant. In course of time, both the power stations shut down in 2009 and 2015,” an official explained.

Moreover, in 2023, Haryana had argued that no maintenance charges were being paid to it by Delhi government.