Yamuna in Delhi swelled to 207.81 metres on Wednesday, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set in 1978, flooding several riverside areas and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal calling an emergency meeting on the situation. Thousands of people have been shifted to safer areas as water gushed into their homes and markets near the river. In view of the grave situation, the Delhi Police imposed prohibitory measures under CrPC section 144 in flood-prone areas of the city, preventing unlawful assembly of four or more people and public movement in groups. According to the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) flood-monitoring portal, the water level at the Old Railway Bridge crossed the 207-metre mark at 4 am on Wednesday, the first time since 2013.

 

It rose to 207.81 metres by 6 pm. The water level of the river is likely to rise further, an official of the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department said. The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall to continue in Uttarakhand in the next two days. As the water level rose to a record level, Kejriwal urged the Centre to intervene to ensure that levels of the Yamuna don’t rise further. In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he requested that “if possible the water from Hathnikund barrage in Haryana be released in limited speed” and pointed out that Delhi is set to host the G-20 Summit meeting in a few weeks.

 

“The news of flood in the capital of the country will not send a good message to the world. Together we will have to save the people of Delhi from this situation,” Kejriwal said. Later the Chief Minister said that Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat has informed him that the volume of water being released to Haryana from Himachal Pradesh has reduced, which in turn will impact the water level in the Yamuna. However, he said it will take some time for the water level in the river to recede. The swelling of the Yamuna river led to waterlogging in the Delhi Transport Corporation headquarters area near ITO. Its employees waded through the waterlogged entrance to get into the office on Wednesday. In north-east Delhi’s Gandhi Mendu and Usmanpur villages, flood water has risen to over four feet, local MLA Ajay Mahawar said, adding that the residents have already been moved to safety.

 

Narrating the problems faced at relief camps, a person said, “It’s poor people like us who are suffering. Government makes false promises but does nothing on the ground. We don’t get anything.” Another flood victim Radhe Kishan sought to vent his anger at the Government saying, “Last year too the area had got flooded. The Government has hardly done anything since then and the situation remains the same.” “The Government could have at least made arrangements for food. But that is being provided by a gurudwara,” he said. Revenue Minister Atishi said the Delhi Government is strengthening river embankments and evacuating people out of the floodplains.