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New Delhi: Record rainfall this season has sent the River Yamuna flowing above its danger mark. The water rose to 205.67 metres, 1.16 metres above the danger level.
With the water rising in the river, evacuation is in full swing. People can be seen carrying their precious household goods, including electronic items on their heads as they head for higher ground.
As hundreds of families are left homeless by the evacuation, government agencies and environmentalists are at loggerheads. While environmentalists have sounded the alarm, officials say there is no reason to panic.
Difference of opinion
According to the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department, while the situation is sensitive, it is not critical.
A department official said, "We still go by the old demarcations that date from the pre-Independence period. At that time there were no embankments along the river and the city was vulnerable to floods.
"But over the years, the situation has changed. And the danger mark is not indicative of a frightening state of affairs. In any case, it is not the entire city that needs to worry, but only people living in the immediate floodplains. A thorough study needs to be done to revise the danger level," he said.
The department official claimed they have been working round-the-clock and keeping a tight vigil on the flood situation.
Delhi has received about 70 millimetres more rainfall than normal. And most of it was recorded during the past few weeks.
People residing in flood prone areas have been evacuated well in time to avoid any loss to lives or property.
Control rooms have been set up at various strategic points to maintain vigil on the situation.
Rescued
Meanwhile, some people, who were trapped when their shanties were flooded in the catchment area of the river in east Delhi's Usmanpur area were moved to safety.
Over 30 people trapped in floodwaters in the Chilla village area were also evacuated.
Even while the affected residents carried their household goods to safety, the officials said that they had been told to shift, but ignored the warnings.
Tea vendor Liyakat Khan and his wife Salma Bano are living in a makeshift tent in Yamuna Pushta after being evacuated along with their children.
Khan, who has been living on the banks of the Yamuna for 10 years, said: "We face this situation every year.
"For the next fortnight or so, we shall have to remain uprooted, which makes it difficult for us to survive on the meagre income that our sons earn as motor mechanics."
Along with the rescue operations, the blame game has begun. Residents complain there is little government aid, while officials say they were given several warnings and need to fend for themselves.
Not taken seriously
Officials of the NGO Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan had rushed to gauge the potentially sensitive areas along the banks.
Manoj Misra, Convenor of the NGO, said: "After having touched the walls of the Shastri Park Metro complex in Shahdara, the river water is about to enter the Ring Road.
"But the government officials are not taking things seriously."
Poor payouts
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has alleged that many villages in the Narmada valley were facing a threat of submergence but authorities maintain the water level in a dam reservoir is well below its capacity.
The NBA, led by Medha Patkar, has been organising "Jal Satyagrahs" at various places falling in the reservoir area since August 15, alleging that several villages faced the threat of being inundated in backwater due to the increasing water level in the reservoir and the Madhya Pradesh government was not providing adequate compensation to those affected by the Indira Sagar Project (ISP).
But a Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) official said: "The backwater threat is just an illusion, at least for now because the present water level of the reservoir is 254 metres as against the full reservoir level of 262.13 metres, so that there is no threat or danger of backwater in the near future."
- IANS
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