As the swollen Yamuna river wreaked havoc in the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused Haryana and the BJP government of 'political conspiracy'. Addressing the media on Saturday, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP-ruled centre and the Haryana government are “trying to ensure” there is a flood-like situation in Delhi.
One of the main factors that led to water level rising in the Yamuna is the discharge from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana. The AAP, which rules Delhi, alleged that despite the barrage leading to three canals, no water was released into the western canal since July 9. All the water was only released only towards Delhi, while the canal towards Uttar Pradesh was dry, the AAP claimed on Saturday.
“Not a single drop of water was released into the canals going to UP and Haryana from there. Haryana will have to answer for this,” AAP leader and Delhi PWD minister Atishi said.
The Hathnikund barrage regulates the flow and distributes share of water from the main stream of the Yamuna, Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) in Haryana and Eastern Yamuna Canal (EYC) in Uttar Pradesh, Hindustan Times reported.
Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department , whoever, clarified about the controversial release of the water into the Yamuna. CWC water sharing-formula is adopted when the flow of water comes down below 100,000 (1 lakh) cusecs. In that scenario, 15,000 cusecs is discharged into western canal and 2,000 cusecs into eastern canal and remaining flows into main Yamuna, the HT reported. If the flow of water exceeds 1 lakh cusecs, there will be no flow into the western and eastern canals and the entire water is to be discharged into the main Yamuna as two canals cannot withhold the high flow of water.
Even when the Yamuna showed signs of receding, the breach of an embankment of a drain regulator made matters worse on Friday with floodwater flowing into the city through a drain, inundating the Ring Road, Indraprastha Metro Station, IP Depot, ITO and Vikas Marg, and reaching the entrance of the Supreme Court in central Delhi. In a midnight update, the Lt Governor's Office said that the Army has sealed the breached embankment to prevent floodwater from entering Delhi. Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged there was a delay in the deployment of the NDRF for repairing the regulator even as the L-G asked him not to indulge in a blame game.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also targetted Haryana and said the government has no interest in maintenance of the barrage. Meanwhile, the BJP accused Kejriwal of evading responsibility and blaming other states for the damage caused in the national capital.