Delhi High Court seeks report on food, medical aid to flood victims

The bench asked the government to file a status report on the issue and listed the matter for further hearing on September 13.

The Delhi high court on Monday asked the Aam Aadmi Party government to file a detailed status report on a plea seeking immediate measures such as free ration, medical assistance, sanitary provisions and other essentials for flood-affected people living in relief camps in the national capital.

According to the plea, around 25,000 people were affected by the floods caused by the rise in water levels of the Yamuna. (HT Photo)

A bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Saurabh Banerjee, while hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), was informed by the government that it has taken steps to provide relief to those affected by the flooding of the Yamuna this month.

Standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi also raised “serious objections” against the petition, saying it was filed without any due diligence or approaching the authorities first and “reflects as if nothing has been done”. The PIL was filed by Akash Bhattacharya, a former assistant professor at the Azim Premji University.

The bench asked the government to file a status report on the issue and listed the matter for further hearing on September 13.

According to the plea, around 25,000 people were affected by the floods caused by the rise in water levels of the Yamuna, and are living in extreme conditions at the relief camps, without proper sanitation facilities and food. It said that the unprecedented flood rendered hundreds of people who reside on the Yamuna floodplain homeless and submerged several houses in the river bed.

“In the alarming and unprecedented situation, the state machinery of the capital has failed to protect the life and livelihood of hundreds of people in the capital,” it claimed.

The plea sought to direct the city government to notify this flood as a natural disaster under the National Disaster Management Authority Act.

It also sought a direction to the Delhi government to appoint a nodal officer for examining the loss that occurred in the Yamuna flood and conducting surveys of the victims in every camp and to provide an immediate cash assistance of ₹50,000 for those who lost their belongings and shelter.