Omkar Dattatray
It is very sad and unfortunate that the national capital is drowning in the floods and incessant monsoon rains .It is ironical that much unneeded politics is being played by the various political parties over the flooding of Delhi which is very bad and there should be no politicking over the Delhi which has submerged in flood waters and is in fact drowning .The million dollar question is who is responsible for the drowning of Delhi .Much petty and dirty politics is being played by both AAP and BJP .AAP is holding BJP responsible for the current floods and submerging of Delhi by the flood waters .
There is blame game on between AAP and BJP and one political party holding the other parties negligence and carelessness responsible for the Delhi floods which have wrecked it .There is need for a dispassionate ,unbiased and impartial probe and investigation on those party or parties which are responsible for the sorry state of floods in Delhi .But the fact should not be overlooked that floods is a natural calamity and no human has any control over the floods and then how can any political party be held responsible for the Delhi floods but still all those political parties and powers should be exposed for their carelessness and not keeping the contingency plan ready beforehand to meet the threat and woes of the flood .
At the first place it is the Delhi government of AAP headed by Kejriwal which has miserably failed to give relief to Dehlites and also failed to rescue them.AAP and its leaders are only shifting the responsibility of combating the floods on BJP as it has failed to lessen the incidence of flood in Delhi with the result that Delhi is drowning .
Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that floods in city were caused by the BJP led centre and Haryana government willfully releasing water towards the national capital .Addressing a press conference ,Bharadwaj said it has not rained in Delhi in the last 3-4 days ,yet still the water level in Yammuna reached 208.66 meters .
’’The water from Hathnikund Barrage is released from three canals –Western Canal ,Eastern Canal ,and Yammuna. As part of a conspiracy ,between July 9and 13,water was released from Yammuna canal only towards Delhi .There was no water released through the Western and Eastern canal ,’’he claimed .Similar charges were made by him and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal even as the city government butted heads with Lieutenant Governor V.K.Saxena over broken regulator that allegedly caused inundation on the Vikas Marg .Meanwhile Delhi C M has deputed ministers for 6 flood –affected districts to ensure proper facilities at relief camps .
Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj writes to LG demanding action against three bureaucrats for not following the instructions of two ministers to call NDRF and Army Engineers Regiment at night to repair WHO Building regulator. ’’Officers ignored the directions causing flood situation in VIP areas of Delhi including the supreme court of India .Flooding could have been avoided if the directions of ministers had been followed and Army/NDRF was called on the preceding night .
This was a conspiracy against Supreme Court. ’’writes Bhardwaj in his letter .Congress calls off Maun Satyagrah in Delhi ,Haryana ,Punjab and HP. .However Delhi government is working on war footing .We have started Flood Relief Kitchen at party headquarters ,says Delhi minister Gopal Rai .The BJP alleged that inaction and corruption of the AAP government was responsible for the flood in Delhi and asked CM Arvind Kejriwal to apologize to the people for failing to handle the situation .
Addressing a press conference ,BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia and party MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma alleged that the flood was caused by lack of desalting of the Yammuna in the Last eight years of the Kejriwal government .This is thus obvious that there is blame game between AAP and BJP about the responsibility of Delhi floods which is very disturbing .
The reality is the Yamuna river in Delhi experienced an unprecedented rise ,reaching an alarming height of 208.48 meters on Thursday morning .This dramatic surge resulted in the flooding of nearby streets ,public facilities ,and private infrastructure ,leading to significant difficulties for residents residing in close proximity to the river .The water level at the old railway bridge on Wednesday night surpassed the 208 meter threshold ,reaching a staggering height of.208.48 meters at 8am on Thursday .
The central water commission acknowledging the severity of the situation ,has classified it as an extreme situation and predicts further rise in water level .According to Manu Bhatnagar ,principal director of the National Heritage Division at the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage ,the principal cause behind the raging Yammuna river in Delhi can be attributed to occurrence of intense rainfall within a relatively short period.
’’The same amount of water falling over a longer period of time would not lead to such a situation as it allows time to the water to pass through .Even a lesser amount of precipitation can result in a higher level downstream if it falls in a shorter period of time. ’’he explained .A senior official of CWC said,’ ’We noticed that the water released from the Hathnikund barrage took less time to reach Delhi compared to previous years .The main reason could be encroachment situation .
Earlier ,the water would have had more space to flow .Now it passes through a constricted cross section’ ’The water from the barrage at Yamunanagar in Haryana ,around 180 Km from the national capital takes around two to three days to reach Delhi.Country representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ,Yeshveer Bhatnagar ,attributed the record water level in the Yamuna to intense rainfall in the entire upper catchment area.
He said ,’’Encroachment of the floodplains may have an incremental effect. ’’Bhim Singh Rawat ,associate coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams ,Rivers ,people (SANDRP)said that a major factor contributing to the unprecedented rise in the water level of the Yamuna river is the elevated river bed caused by substantial silt accumulation .
More than 20 bridges within the 22 km riuver stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla obstruct the flow ,leading to the deposition of silt in the river bed and formation of numerous mid-stream sandbars .The location of these sandbars include beneath the Signature Bridge ,between the ITO barrage and Yamunabank ,between ISBT Kashmiri Gate and the old kashmiri Gate and the old Railway Bridge and the Geeta colony Bridge .The Energy Resource Institute has identified multiple factors contributing to the alarming increase in flood incidents within the city of Delhi. These include the uneven distribution of rainfall ,uncontrolled urbanization and encroachment upon natural drainage channels and urban lakes .Of particular concern is the unchecked filling od urban water bodies ,which has become a widespread problem .
The proliferation of illegal colonies throughout the city without adherence to the proper planning measures has resulted in the narrowing of the natural drainage systems .This poses a significant threat to the overall well-being of the city and serves as an open invitation to urban flooding as warned by The Energy Resource Institute .In fact from the above it is crystal clear that there are many causes for the current flooding and submerging of Delhi .The political parties should abstain from doing politics on the flooding in Delhi and instead cooperate with the Delhi government to mitigate the effects of flood on the people of Delhi otherwise the people of Delhi and country will teach a lesson to these parties in the general elections which are only ten months away from today .
The answer to the question who is responsible to Delhi flooding is that the floods of the city is because of the interplay of many factors and the release of Yamuna water from Hatnikund barrage is definitely one of these factors and as such there should be no politicking on the issue of flooding in Delhi and instead all the political parties should cooperate with the government to lessen the sad impact of the floods in Delhi and such avoid playing the blame game.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist)
