Haryana releases water, Delhi govt prepares for floodplains evacuation

A Delhi government official said nearly 8,000 people were evacuated till Monday evening and shifted to tents along the river

Water level in the Yamuna river breached the danger mark of 206 metres late on Monday night, prompting government agencies to launch evacuation of people living on the floodplains and low-lying areas along the banks of the river at ITO, Kashmere Gate, and near Akshardham and the DND Flyway, officials aware of the matter said.

The Yamuna river was flowing 205.94 metre mark at 10pmat the water gauge installed at the Old Yamuna bridge, popular as Lohe Ka Pul. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

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At 11pm on Monday, the river was flowing at the 206.04m mark at the water gauge installed at the Old Yamuna bridge, popular as Lohe Ka Pul, according to Delhi government data. Nearly 8,000 people were evacuated till Monday evening and shifted to tents erected along the river, a government official said.

Officials added that the water level is likely to rise further as Haryana continued to release water into the river from the Hatinikund Barrage. Officials also attributed the faster rise in the river level to heavy rain in the catchment area.

According to officials, a level of 204.5m is considered the “warning level”, 205.33m is considered “danger level” and 206m is taken as the “evacuation level”.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the government was keeping a close watch on the flood situation and around 41,000 people living on the Yamuna floodplains will be evacuated, if the water level in the river touches the evacuation level of 206m. “We are constantly in touch with the Central Water Commission... According to them at the moment, the level of the river in Delhi is 203.58m. Tomorrow morning it may go as high as 205.5m. We have also looked at the weather prediction over the next couple of days, and based on that we don’t expect the level of the river to rise beyond this. So, according to all the data at our disposal we do not think that there will be flood-like situation in Delhi. But even if it comes to that, we are all prepared to evacuate people who live near the river,” Kejriwal said at a press conference at 1pm.

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On Monday, PWD minister Atishi went on a boat with officials to monitor the evacuation efforts. Authorities have deployed 47 boats along the Yamuna to respond to any emergency. “We are making arrangements of toilet, drinking water, medicine for the people in camps. They will be provided food as well,” another official said. “We are ready to handle the situation. We are monitoring it and keeping in touch with experts and officials.” He said on Sunday night, 300,000 cusecs of water were released from the barrage and 250,000 cusecs on Monday morning even as an interaction between a western disturbance and the monsoon trough continued to cause heavy rainfall.

A second official said the normal discharge of water from Hathnikund is 352 cusecs (in non monsoon season), but heavy rainfall in the catchment areas led to increased discharge. “The water from the barrage takes around three days to reach the national Capital,” said an official.

Kejriwal said over the years, the city has ramped up capacity to handle more water released from the barrage. “In 1978, the city witnessed major floods when 7 lakh cusecs of water was released through the Hathnikund barrage. But since then, several measures have been taken to prevent floods. In 2013, 8 lakh cusecs of water was released through the Hathnikund barrage, and the Yamuna level rose to 207.32m. But there were no major floods in the city. Later in 2019, 8.28 lakh cusecs of water was released at Hathnikund barrage with the river rising to 206.6 metres. However, no major floods were reported even then,” he said.

Read here: Rain-heavy system over north likely to subside by today, to shift to east: IMD

The Yamuna spans around 22km in the Capital. Its floodplains have been encroached over the years and mostly vegetables, flowers, etc are grown on them. Migrant labourers have also built hutments on the floodplains and homeless people have found shelter under the bridges. In places such as Yamuna Bazaar, slums as well as concrete houses have come up close to the floodplains. Over 35,000 people are estimated to be living there. People living on the floodplains across six districts of Delhi are likely to be affected. The authorities were setting up camps and alerting residents.