Delhi BJP accuses AAP of not desilting Yamuna, other drains; demands judicial probe

NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP on Sunday demanded a judicial probe into whether any desilting of the Yamuna river and drains in the city was done by the AAP government, and if yes, how much money was spent on it.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged no desilting of the Yamuna and the drains was carried out by the Arvind Kejriwal government and the flood was a direct result of this failure.

"We demand a judicial probe into if any desilting of the Yamuna and the drains were conducted by the Kejriwal government and if yes, how much money was spent on it," he said.

Alleging "corruption" and "carelessness" of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Sachdeva said the meeting of the apex committee on flood control, headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has not been held in the last two years.

"I demand Kejriwal tell the people of Delhi why the meeting of the apex committee, which is mandatory to be held by June under the Flood Control Order, has not been held for the last two years," he asked.

The BJP leader added that Kejriwal was campaigning in Haryana on July 9 when Delhi was heading towards flood and just after a week, he is now blaming the state for floods in Delhi.

"The nodal officer of the apex committee, district magistrate East Delhi wrote to the government three times in June to call a meeting, saying there is a warning of a serious situation, but the chief minister refused to budge," he claimed.

The AAP government, in a statement, claimed that it had been regularly reviewing flood and waterlogging issues in the city in May itself.

Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj on June 9 jointly chaired a meeting where all departments, including the PWD, MCD, I&FC, DJB, DDA and NDMC, were present and preparations for floods and water logging was reviewed, it said.

Co-convener of BJP's legal cell, Bansuri Swaraj, accused the AAP dispensation of trying to cover their "inaction" in handling the flood situation with "lies."

She claimed the reverse flow walls of drains, which prevent the backflow of water, were built around 2010 and never repaired by the Kejriwal government.

The damaged reverse-flow walls caused a backflow of drains and inundated Rajghat and other areas, Swaraj added.

She said 8 lakh cusecs of water was released in the Yamuna from Hathnikund in 2013 and 8.28 lakh cusecs in 2019, but there was no flood-like situation at that time, but this time only 3.5 lakh cusecs of water was released, causing deluge in the whole of Delhi.

"The reason for this is that the Kejriwal government wasted all the money on its corruption and propaganda, and did not clean the Yamuna and the drains of Delhi," Swaraj claimed.

The AAP leaders have been accusing the saffron party of conspiring to flood Delhi by discharging huge quantities of water in the Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage.

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