Yamuna Water Levels Drop Marginally

After breaching a 45-year record three days ago, water levels in the Yamuna in Delhi came down to 208.17 metres at 6 pm on Friday even as several key areas in the city were inundated.

On Thursday, the water level had started rising after remaining stable for three hours and reached 208.66 metres by 7 pm, three metres above the danger mark of 205.33 metres.

According to Central Water Commission (CWC) data, the water level stood at 208.57 metres in the early hours of Friday and fell marginally to 208.48 metres at 5 am.

The water level in the Yamuna was 208.42 metres at 8 am. It went down further to 208.27 metres at 1 pm and 208.25 metres at 3 pm. At 6 pm, the reading stood at 208.17 metres.

The Yamuna in Delhi swelled to 207.71 metres on Wednesday, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set in 1978.

Floodwaters reached the entrance of the Supreme Court in central Delhi and submerged the busy ITO intersection and Rajghat as the Irrigation and Flood Control Department's regulator was damaged.

Delhi flood catastrophe wrought by Haryana govt, alleges AAP; BJP hits back

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Friday lashed out at the BJP government in Haryana, accusing it of being responsible for the flood-like situation in parts of Delhi by releasing water in the Yamuna from its Hathnikund barrage.

The BJP hit back, with its Delhi unit chief alleging that the AAP government was "evading responsibility" and blaming other states, as it did during the Covid period Addressing a press conference here, Singh said the BJP MPs in Delhi "could have negotiated" with the Haryana government to tackle the flood-like situation here, but they chose not to.

"Haryana released water from the Hathnikund barrage towards Delhi only and this has caused the flood-like situation here. The chief secretaries of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana should have coordinated to tackle it," claimed Singh, who is an AAP Rajya Sabha member.

He alleged that water from the Hathnikund barrage was released only in the Yamuna canal of Delhi and not towards the east and west canals that flow to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

"Since July 10, the Haryana government has been releasing water in one direction, whereas it could have been distributed evenly in all three states. The Delhi flood is an organised plan. The BJP has purposely pushed the national capital into this situation and made people suffer because of political reasons," Singh alleged.

AAP leader Somnath Bharti termed the flood-like situation in Delhi a "BJP-made disaster." "The east and west canals that flow to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are completely dry. The water flow has been diverted towards Delhi purposely," Bharti alleged.

AAP National spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar claimed that though Delhi witnessed no heavy rain in the last three days, the city's low-lying areas near Yamuna are still inundated, as she concurred with party leaders' view on Haryana being solely responsible for the flood.

"It is unfortunate that the Centre is hell-bent on doing negative politics. It is a man-made disaster," Kakkar alleged.

"All our leaders are on the ground and trying their best to provide relief to people. Why is the water flow diverted towards Delhi only? Accountability must be fixed and questions must be asked," she said.

The BJP's Delhi unit chief Sachdeva alleged no work was done by the city government agencies to desilt the Yamuna river and the drains which led to waterlogging.

"The Yamuna river has lost depth due to lack of desilting and as soon as extra water arrived, the river was in spate. The Kejriwal government has completely failed to combat the flood situation in Delhi. Now, the ministers and AAP leaders are making political statements to mislead the public," he charged.

The AAP should know that the quantity of water released in a river from any barrage or dam is not decided by political leaders but by administrative officers, Sachdeva added.