NEW DELHI: To strengthen the city’s flood management, the Delhi government will formally request the Haryana government to hand it over the control of the ITO barrage on the Yamuna River, officials said on Wednesday.
When flood hit Delhi in 2023, one of the factors contributing to it were several dysfunctional gates of the barrage.
“While the gates at the barrage have been repaired to prevent any flood-like situation like in 2023, and we are monitoring it, we will also be requesting Haryana to hand it over to us,” a government official said. Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Parvesh Verma has approved the plan and is likely to take the matter up with the Haryana government. In the past too, the Delhi government has written to the neighbouring government to hand over the critical barrage.
The ITO barrage is closest to the areas prone to flooding often, and malfunctioning of the five gates of the barrage due to heavy silting has been one of its major factors. “As these gates on the east end of the barrage could not be opened at the peak water level of the Yamuna, the pressure was so high that the water started spilling onto areas, roads, and colonies situated along the river in the stretch between Wazirabad and ITO barrage,” states an Irrigation and Flood Control department (I&FC) report on the flooding of 2023.
There are 32 gates on the ITO barrage. Of the three barrages, the Delhi government controls only one in Wazirabad. The Okhla barrage is under the control of the Uttar Pradesh government. In 2023, due to unprecedented rainfall in the catchment area of the Yamuna, there was a huge runoff in the river. On July 13 that year, the highest flood level (HFL) at 208.66 metres was observed at the Old Railway Bridge, surpassing an earlier HFL of 207.49 metres recorded on September 6, 1978. Several areas were flooded for days, rendering many homeless.