Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 14: In the first reported casualty in Delhi floods, three boys aged between 10 and 13 years were drowned when they jumped into floodwaters trying to swim at a metro construction site in Northeast Delhi’s Mukundpur area on Friday evening.
The police said the boys dived into the water around 4:30 pm and hit a ditch in which they were drowned. They were taken out and rushed to the BJRM hospital, where all three were declared brought dead, police said. Police say they are investigating the matter. The boys were identified as Piyush (13), Nikhil (10), and Ashish (13), all residents of H-block, Jahangirpuri, police said.
Even though the water level in the swollen Yamuna river declined marginally, there was no respite for the people of Delhi as flood waters spread to more areas including near the Supreme Court in central Delhi, mainly because a regulator of the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department suffered damage near Indraprastha, exacerbating the already dire situation.
After touching 208.66 metres last evening, over a metre more than the previous record of 207.49 metres reported in 1978, level in the Yamuna decreased to 208.29 m by 6 PM, still three metres above the danger mark, and the Central Water Commission has forecast a further dip in the coming hours, albeit slow.
Several areas in Delhi remained flooded on Friday including the busy ITO circle and Rajghat. Delhi government had shut down schools, colleges, crematoriums, and even water treatment plants on Thursday as water from the overflowing Yamuna flooded the national capital. Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the government has directed the chief secretary to take up the matter of the damage to the regulator on priority and resolve the problem.
Delhi authorities have said that there will be drinking water and power cuts in some areas of the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Union Home Minister Amit Shah from France and enquired about the flood-like situation in parts of Delhi, sources said. During their telephone conversation, Shah briefed Modi about the flood-like situation and told him that the water level in the Yamuna was expected to recede in the next 24 hours.
The city government has banned the entry of heavy goods vehicles, barring those carrying essential items, into the city from the four borders, including Singhu. Punjab and Haryana have also been hit by the rains and are conducting relief work at a brisk pace. According to Haryana government figures, the death count in rain-related incidents has gone up to 16. Earlier, 10 deaths had been reported in the state and 11 from neighbouring Punjab.
In view of the flooding in various parts of Delhi, crematoriums located at Nigambodh Ghat, Geeta Colony, Wazirabad and Sarai Kale Khan have been closed, Mayor Shelly Oberoi said on Friday. “Due to floods in Delhi, crematoriums at Nigambodh Ghat, Geeta Colony, Wazirabad and Sarai Kale Khan are closed,” Oberoi tweeted. Advising people to consider alternative cremation grounds, she also shared a list of other cremation sites where people could go for funerals.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that the Okhla water treatment plant has restarted as the water levels in the Yamuna have been receding. Three water treatment plants were shut down Thursday because of the raging waters of the Yamuna.
Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena inspected the ITO area, Delhi’s busiest traffic intersection, which has been shut as floodwaters flowed into central Delhi after a drain regulator broke down. Five of the 32 gates of the ITO barrage through which water flows into the Yamuna are shut, causing slow drainage from flooded areas. Army and disaster response force personnel, along with the Delhi administration, have been trying to unclog the five gates but without success so far.