On Friday, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena wrote a detailed letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, listing the key factors that caused the massive floods in the national capital. He also suggested various measures to prevent such floods from happening in the future.
New Delhi (Agency): In his letter, the LG pointed out that of the 44 km stretch of the Yamuna River in Delhi, the 22 km area from Wazirabad to Okhla has 18 major obstructions inside the river. These obstructions have caused problems by stopping the free flow of water. He explained that “lapses on the part of the government include outdated and inaccurate level-based discharge computing table held by Delhi Jal Board to compute the discharge at Wazirabad barrage and unprofessional practice of the government departments of not clearing the construction and demolition (C&D) and other waste from bridge construction sites that obstruct the free flow of Yamuna.”
Saxena also highlighted another critical problem: a heavy accumulation of silt in the Yamuna River over several years. The lack of desilting has been a major reason for the recent floods in Delhi. He elaborated on this issue by saying, “Najafgarh drain, which brings the maximum discharge from the city into the Yamuna, is filled with silt and garbage to the tune of 108 lakh metric ton. This severely affects the water holding/carrying capacity of this 57-km-long channel.”
The letter further mentioned that there was not a single department or agency that had ownership of Yamuna, especially during the floods. This lack of accountability seemed to contribute to the inadequate response to the flood situation.
The Lieutenant Governor didn’t only identify the problems but also laid out measures to prevent floods in the national capital in the future. He insisted that permanent ownership of the Yamuna river stream must be assigned to one department. In his letter, he stated, “All the pumping installations at regulator locations can be handed over to a single department to enhance operational and maintenance efficiency, coordinated action by CPWD and PWD needed to ensure hassle-free drainage from Rajghat and Samadhi Complex.”
Other measures proposed by the LG included sustainable desilting of the Yamuna and Najafgarh drain, creating a drainage master plan for the city, and developing an advanced flood management plan for Yamuna bazar and other low-lying areas.
These insights and suggestions from Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor come at a crucial time as the city faces the challenges of managing its water bodies and dealing with the aftermath of recent floods. The letter appears to be a comprehensive analysis of what went wrong and what can be done to avoid such catastrophes in the future.