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This is a paradox of the situation, as on one hand we have successfully sent Chandrayaan 3 to explore water on the south pole of the moon, on the other hand, the national capital of India is facing a deluge of water. Lo and behold, it has not rained in Delhi so much, but Pandava’s Indraprastha is flooded. The Yamuna river in Delhi witnessed an unprecedented surge causing severe flooding in nearby areas and affecting streets, public facilities and private infrastructure. Residents in the affected areas are grappling with odds and adversary in the face of unprecedented events. The authorities evacuated as many as 16,564 people and around 14,534 of them took refuge in tents pitched by the Delhi government and under flyovers.

People marooned

Thousands of people were compelled to seek refuge on the road. Schools, colleges, crematoriums and even water treatment plants in Delhi were closed as overflowing Yamuna inundated the national capital. As per media reports, the water level of the Yamuna, all-time high on Thursday, is gradually receding, however several parts in Delhi, including Supreme court, ITO, Rajghat, iconic Lal Qila among others are confronting the challenges of flood. As people were on Thursday battling with flood, five gates of the ITO barrage were reportedly jammed, spelling more trouble. The crops planted on hundreds of acres in Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar were destroyed owing to flooding in the areas.  According to a trader’s body: “An estimated Rs 200 crore worth of business has been affected due to rains and flooding in parts of the national capital.”

Commuters faced difficulties as traffic was diverted due to waterlogging at ITO road, a key stretch connecting east Delhi to Lutyens’s Delhi. “No vehicular traffic will be allowed on Mahatma Gandhi Marg from Sarai Kale Khan towards IP Flyover due to overflow of drain water near WHO Building. Commuters are advised to avoid the stretch,” the Delhi Traffic Police said in a tweet. The Delhi police has also imposed section 144 CrPC as a precautionary measure in the flood-prone areas in Delhi.

Blame games: People in knee-deep trouble

Political blame games have erupted between the ruling party Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party amidst people are in knee-deep trouble in flood-like situations.

BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said that Arvind Kejriwal is responsible for Delhi floods and Yamuna inundating streets of Delhi and adjoining areas. He added, “Despite several promises to clean the Yamuna, no dredging has been done ever since Kejriwal came to power. Sewer lines have not been desilted for the last 8 years. Even this year, drains that were to be desilted till 15th June, have not been cleared. There is no drainage plan for the city.”

AAP leader and PWD Minister Atishi Marlena tweeted, “Ecosystems are not divided by political boundaries. Not just north India, the whole world is witnessing large-scale climatic catastrophes. The amount of rainfall this year in Delhi, Himachal, Haryana etc. is unprecedented by far. And this is exactly why the Yamuna is flooding, as one common river basin that goes through several states.”

BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said of the flood situation: “I had been constantly alerting (the government) over this (flood) threat. But the Arvind Kejriwal government didn’t wake up.”

The Congress attacked the AAP government in Delhi over the flood-like situation, describing it as a “man-made crisis” and not a natural disaster. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told news agency PTI, “The government needs to step in. It has happened because of a man-made crisis, this is not a natural disaster. Drains are not clear, water bodies have been taken over, (there is) illegal occupation of land…”

“Where is the Delhi chief minister? Looks like he said it seriously that he would make Delhi (a) land of lakes,” Shrinate said in a swipe at Arvind Kejriwal.

PM Modi enquires about flood from France

Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him up over the phone from France to enquire about the flood and waterlogging situation in the national capital.

“Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji called from France to enquire about the waterlogging and flood situation in Delhi and the efforts being made to deal with it,” Saxena said.

Devastating 1978 Delhi floods

The devastating Delhi flood of 1978 was a natural disaster that occurred in the national capital. In July 1978, heavy monsoon rains lashed the city, leading to massive flooding and widespread destruction. The flood was one of the worst in Delhi’s history and resulted in the loss of many lives and extensive damage to infrastructure. The then Indira Gandhi-led union government had to deploy Indian Air Force choppers to drop food packets and relief materials among the flood victims.

The 1978 flood served as a wake-up call for Delhi’s authorities, leading to a re-evaluation of the city’s drainage and flood management systems. Subsequent measures were taken to improve infrastructure, including the construction of additional stormwater drains and reservoirs. These initiatives aimed to enhance the city’s resilience to future flooding events. The 2023 Delhi flood must be taken on a serious note to refurbish the infrastructure to avert such a situation in the face of climatic challenges becoming formidable with each passing year.

-RAMAKANT CHAUDHARY

Ramakant Chaudhary works with PR Professionals as DGM-Content Development, and has worked in various editorial roles with Financial Express, Mint (Hindustan Times Group), The Times Of India, Jagran Post (Dainik Jagran Group), The Pioneer, and The Political and Business Daily. He writes on politics, government policy, economy, infrastructure, real estate, social issues, lifestyle, and health

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The protesters gathered at around midnight. Police personnel were seen removing them at around 3:30 am.
The students were demanding to meet him and submit a charter of demands over violence in the capital. Water cannons were used by the Delhi Police to disperse the crowd. The students later alleged that they were detained by the police and taken to nearby Civil Lines police station.

Appealing to Mr Kejriwal to take action against the violence in affected areas in North-East Delhi, protesters who called themselves concerned citizens, asked the Chief Minister to personally visit affected areas with local MLAs and organise peace marches to de-escalate tensions.

They also urged the Chief Minister to inform citizens about steps taken by the Delhi government and allow all rescue operations to reach hospitals from the affected areas.

They further appealed to identify perpetrators of violence and take action against them.

Late last evening, Mr Kejriwal called an urgent meeting at his residence, of MLAs and officials of the violence-hit areas of North East Delhi, to take stock of the situation and issued instructions to take all necessary steps to restore peace.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval also reached Seelampur area to take stock of the situation and visited violence-hit areas.

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On Friday with air quality in several areas dipping to ‘severe-plus’ pollution levels even as the Delhi government kept up suspense on extending the odd-even car rationing scheme on its 12th and last day.

At 7 am, the air quality in several areas of the Delhi and NCR, including Pusa Road (777), Dwarka Sector 8 (930), Pragati Vihar (733), Anand Vihar (535), Noida Sector 125 (665), Noida Sector 62 (538), US Embassy in Chanakyapuri (660), Jahagirpuri (610), Narela (808), Bawana (865), Okhla (722), Satyawati College in Ashok Vihar (757), Sonia Vihar (565), Alipur (644), Sri Aurobindo Marg (733), Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business in Rohini (765) and Patparganj (571) crossed the ‘severe-plus’ category.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to discuss a press conference at noon today, a day after saying the odd-even scheme could be extended beyond November 15 “if the need arises”.

He also appealed to opposition parties, which have termed the scheme an “election stunt” of the AAP government, to shun their resistance to the scheme. “Pollution has increased drastically. All of Delhi is demanding odd-even. At such a time, the Opposition should support the people’s wish,” he said.

“If the need arises, we will extend it (odd-even scheme),” Kejriwal said in response to media queries on whether the initiative for curbing vehicular pollution will be extended.

A PIL against the car-rationing scheme is already pending in court with the Supreme Court directing the Centre, Delhi government and Central Pollution Control Board to bring on record the pollution data for the national capital for the month of October till November 14. It had also sought pollution data from October to December of the last year. The matter is scheduled to be heard on Friday.

Kejriwal has blamed stubble burning in neighbouring states for repeated episodes of smog in Delhi and said it has hit Delhi’s reputation worldwide. The chief minister said Delhi’s neighbouring states, especially Haryana and Punjab, are burning crop residue disregarding strict directions from the Supreme Court.

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