New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday evening, after the re-opening of one of three water treatment plants that have remained shut due to flooding from an overflowing Yamuna river in the national capital, said the remaining two would also be re-opened if the water level in the river dips and there’s no more heavy rainfall. However, the weather office has predicted rains for Saturday and Sunday as well, he added.
Speaking to the media, he also repeatedly appealed to everyone to avoid pointing fingers and blaming each other for the emergency situation in Delhi.
“This is such a crisis when humans should help other humans. There’s no use abusing one another. BJP has been abusing me since yesterday. Let them do it, doesn’t matter to me,” he said.
If the water level in the Yamuna river, which has constantly been above the danger mark (205.33 meters) for several days now, goes down to even 207.7 by Saturday morning, the remaining two water treatment plants in Chandrawal and Wazirabad which have been shut, will also be re-opened, Mr Kejriwal said after the re-opening of the Okhla water treatment plant.
Yamuna water level at 10 am today was reported to be 207.48 meters. Minutes later, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, saying the water level in Yamuna is decreasing gradually, and if it doesn’t heavily rain again, the situation will become normal soon.
“We have started draining water from Chandrawal and Wazirabad water treatment plants. The machines will be dried soon after. Both the plants will be operational only by tomorrow,” he said in Hindi.
Five out of 32 gates of the ITO barrage have remained jammed because of which the water isn’t draining out of Delhi at the same flow it’s entering, Mr Kejriwal explained.
“After nearly 20 hours of non-stop efforts, the first jammed gate of the ITO Barrage has been opened. A diving team extracted the silt from under the water with a compressor, then the gate was pulled up with a hydra crane. Soon all the five gates will be opened,” he tweeted in Hindi late on Friday night, especially thanking the Army Engineer Regiment and the divers.
Indian Navy personnel are also assisting the Delhi administration to get the barrage running at full capacity soon to avoid further chaos in case of heavy rains or a further rise in Yamuna water levels.
Mr Kejriwal also said his government would request its Haryana counterpart to hand them over the management and maintenance of the ITO barrage.
There are three barrages inside Delhi — Wazirabad Barrage, ITO Barrage, and Okhla Barrage. The Delhi government handles the Wazirabad barrage, Haryana government is responsible for the ITO barrage, and the management of Okhla Barrage is with the government of Uttar Pradesh.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief further said there’s nobody in particular to blame as all the water is coming from upwards.
“There was no rain in Delhi except for one day. All the water is coming from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. This is not our local water. Delhi till now didn’t have the capacity to handle such volume of water. The water level in Yamuna has crossed 207.5 after 45 years. This is a huge crisis, where everyone should work together instead of blaming one another,” Arvind Kejriwal said.
