The political blame game between Delhi and Haryana continued with AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj blaming the ML Khattar-led government of “conspiring against the people of Delhi” by releasing water into the Yamuna and causing it to overflow. He said flood waters from the river, which breached VIP areas like Rajghat, ITO and Supreme Court, could have left Lutyens Delhi devastated.
Bharadwaj, who is the irrigation and flood control minister, alleged that bureaucrats ignored instructions given by him and education minister Atishi Singh on calling in the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the army on Thursday night. In a letter to the lieutenant-governor on Saturday, he demanded action against chief secretary Naresh Kumar, divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar and the secretary of own department, Ashish Kundra.
The minister said the NDRF and the army’s engineers regiment were only called next morning when the L-G visited the affected areas. Flooding of prime areas could have been avoided if officers had listened to ministers the night before, he said.
Talking to CNN-News18Bharadwaj claimed that the Haryana government had prevented water from the Hathnikund Barrage from entering Uttar Pradesh and their own state and, instead, had directed it into the Yamuna. Denying the allegations, a day ago, Khattar hit out at the AAP for accusing the state government of being responsible for the flood-like situation in parts of Delhi, saying politicking over natural calamities is “unethical”.
The chief minister’s remarks were a response to AAP leader Sanjay Singh’s statement holding the BJP-JJP government responsible for the flood-like situation in Delhi by releasing water in the Yamuna from its Hathnikund Barrage. Bharadwaj explained the functioning of the barrage and said it is a regulator in the Yamunanagar district of Haryana, which is 228 km from Delhi. The barrage distributes water into three chunks – the eastern canal that flows into Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in Saharanpur, the western canal that comes to Delhi (Haiderpur) and the one that comes into the Yamuna.
“They (Haryana government) are duty-bound to distribute it. But what we got to know from sources and when we sent our team to verify this – since July 9, Haryana has not been sending water into the eastern canal that goes to UP. This means the water is being prevented from entering UP or Haryana,” he said.
He added: “We have records of 2022, during August 9 and 10, when 4 lakh cusecs of water was released but distributed among the (three) canals. Delhi got maximum rain on July 8, which was 153 mm and, on the 9th, there was some rain in the evening. Today is the sixth day Delhi has not received any rain, so why is it that Yamuna levels have risen over the past five days? This is not Delhi rainwater, this is Haryana’s water being pushed by Hathnikund barrage.”
The minister further said the moment the AAP raised this issue in the media, the Haryana irrigation department started releasing water through the eastern canal. “We have seen political parties do things to win brownie points but this looks like a conspiracy. Thousands of families have lost their livelihoods, homes have been destroyed,” he said.
‘Flooding due to unregulated flow of water’
Bharadwaj said the reason behind the flooding in Delhi is the unregulated flow of water. “That is why you have regulators – the Hathnikund barrage is one such. You regulate the flow of a river or regulate the flow of water through canals so that it passes safely through cities. This time, it was not regulated and large volumes of water – above 3 lakh cusecs – were sent into Delhi for many days. It could have been more serious. The Haryana government should not have taken this risk,” he said.
On allegations by Atishi that officers did not respond to “emergency calls” by ministers, he said on the evening of July 13, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal sent him a text about damage to one of the drain regulators that could cause water to enter the Supreme Court. But while the engineers and labourers of the irrigation and flood control department were trying to create a bund, that was not enough and the ITO area was already flooded.
“We have a special WhatsApp group, which has me, Atishi, chief secretary, divisional commissioner responsible for disaster management, Ashwani Kumar, we have the PWD secretary, we have Ashish Kundra who is the secretary of irrigation and flood control. At 11.09 pm, I sent an SOS specifically to Ashwani Kumar that we need NDRF and said it was a sensitive situation as the water will soon reach Lutyens Delhi. Atishi also shared that water will reach the SC but the divisional commissioner chose to ignore it. I said the irrigation and flood control department will be unable to handle the situation… but they still chose to ignore this,” he said.
He said Atishi even said the army’s engineering team was on standby since morning and could be called in but Ashwani Kumar said the irrigation and flood control department will be able to fix the situation within three hours. The chief secretary, Naresh Kumar, was reading all the messages in the group but chose to ignore all of them, he added.
Bharadwaj further said the next morning, when the L-G was on site, the NDRF and army were also present. “If they were not needed at night, why were they present in the morning? The L-G is now saying the irrigation and flood control department could not handle the situation. So, what Atishi and I were saying at night stands vindicated. But the question remains why the army and NDRF were not called in at night when they were available,” he said.
‘Situation likely to improve in next 48 hours’
The minister also said the water has started receding and, since there have been no rains in northern India over the past few days, the situation in Delhi will improve in the next 48 hours and the water will recede.
The worst flooding in the national capital in 45 years, he said the first learning experience for the Delhi government was that it was important to monitor the situation on the ground in person. He also thanked the staff of the government departments as well as relief and rescue teams for working day and night.
“If you are not (on the ground), officers can mislead you. And second, the engineering staff worked day and night. Officers of irrigation and flood control, public works, DJB (Delhi Jal Board), army, NDRF officers and jawans were on the ground 24×7, they did not even sleep,” he added.
‘Domestic breeding checkers to monitor health risks’
Also Delhi’s health minister, Bharadwaj said there was already a plan in place to keep a check on the rise of vector-borne diseases, especially malaria, dengue and chikungunya. After heavy rains on July 8, he said, a high-level meeting of the MCD, NDMC, Cantonment Board, Delhi Jal Board, as well as health, education and irrigation and flood control departments.
“And we told them that, this time, vector-borne diseases could spread before their usual cycle. So, we have a plan in place – we call them ‘domestic breeding checkers’ – for malaria inspectors to go from house to house and write down the day of their visit. Senior officers will conduct random checks of five houses and report if these inspectors are visiting houses or not,” he added.
Bharadwaj further said the education department has been asked to give a special ‘dengue homework’ to all the children studying in MCD, government and private schools. Under this, students will be checking their own homes and surrounding areas for breeding grounds.
“We will run an aggressive campaign for dengue and other vector-borne diseases. We have also directed to disinfect all construction sites, which are unreachable, through drones,” he added.