NEW DELHI: Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena, on Friday, wrote a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal listing factors that caused the massive floods in the national capital. He further suggested a slew of measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
The L-G said that out of the 44 km of Yamuna in Delhi, the 22 km stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla has 18 major obstructions in the course of the river, which caused an impediment in the free flow of water.
“Lapses on the part of the government include outdated and inaccurate level-based discharge computing table held by Delhi Jal Board to compute the discharge at Wazirabad barrage and unprofessional practice of the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,” the letter read.
L-G Saxena also held the opinion that heavy deposition and silt accumulation in the Yamuna over the last several years and lack of desilting processes was one of the reasons for floods in Delhi.
“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 Governor stated. The L-G further elaborated that there was not one single department or agency that had ownership of Yamuna, especially during the floods. Mentioning measures to prevent floods in the national capital in the future, the L-G suggested permanent ownership of Yamuna river stream must be assigned to one of the departments under the government.
“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,” suggested the letter. Other measures suggested by the L-G in his letter include sustainable desilting of Yamuna, and the major drainage lines that drain water into the Yamuna, a drainage master-plan of the city and advanced flood management plan for Yamuna bazar and other low-lying areas.