WTPs at Wazirabad, Chandrawal to resume operation if Yamuna level drops to 207.7 metres, says Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal. Pic/AFP

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cautioned against indulging in any blame game over the flood-like situation in parts of Delhi while announcing that the water treatment plants at Wazirabad and Chandrawal will resume functioning by Saturday morning if the Yamuna's level declines to 207.7 metres. Kejriwal on Friday evening inspected the water treatment plant at Wazirabad and the ITO barrage. Among the three water treatment plants that temporarily shut operations due to the flooding, the Okhla unit has resumed functioning. This was made possible by draining the logged water and drying the machinery at Wazirabad. The Wazirabad unit pumps water towards the Okhla plant, which has a capacity to process 20 million gallons daily.

While at the ITO barrage, the chief minister acknowledged that the closure of five of its 32 gates has hindered the flow of water, exacerbating the crisis. He, however, assured the public that the government is actively working with the assistance of Navy and Army personnel to open these gates. Kejriwal also emphasised the need for the Haryana government to transfer the maintenance of the barrage to its Delhi counterpart to allow a more efficient management and response during such critical situations. Later, he announced that one of the five shut gates of the ITO barrage was opened. "After nearly 20 hours of non-stop toil, the first jammed gate of the ITO barrage has been opened. A diving team extracted the silt from under the water with a compressor, then the gate was pulled up with a hydra crane. Soon, all five gates will be opened. Special thanks to the Army Engineer Regiment and the divers," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Earlier in the day, he visited the Wazirabad plant where he told reporters that three water treatment units -- at Chandrawal, Wazirabad and Okhla -- were shut on Thursday. "Today, the water level in the Yamuna river has declined and, because of that, the Okhla water treatment plant has again become functional. By tomorrow morning, if the water level of the river comes down to even 207.7 metres, then, hopefully, by tomorrow we will be able to dry out the remaining two water treatment plants and get them to function," he added. Kejriwal had said that closure of the five gates at the ITO barrage reduced the flow of water downstream.

"Therefore, the amount of water that enters from the Hathnikund barrage is not able to fully get out of Delhi and the surplus water is beginning to flow onto our streets. We are trying our level best to open these five gates that have been non-functional. We have got the assistance of the Indian Navy as well, and they are also confident that we will be able to open these soon. "Once we are able to do this then the flow of the water leaving Delhi will increase and therefore the water from our streets will also reduce. It is difficult to give any time limit as a lot of people are working to open these gates, but we hope that we will be able to do this at the earliest," he had added.

The chief minister said these gates are maintained by the Haryana government. However, since these are located in Delhi, they do not seem to be interested in maintaining these well, he alleged. "We are not sure when these gates were last opened by the Haryana government. It is said that it has been centuries since they were last opened and, therefore, there has been no maintenance of the gates as well," the AAP leader said. He further said, "We had earlier requested the Haryana government to give us this responsibility of the maintenance of these gates but there was no response. After this flood-like situation abates, we will again formally request them and hopefully this time they will take our request more seriously."

Responding to a query on the BJP blaming the AAP dispensation for the flood-like situation, Kejriwal said the "leaders of the BJP have only been abusing us" since Thursday. "We are not interested in this kind of politics. We are busy working to solve the crisis. If they want, they can continue to abuse us. It will serve no purpose. The kind of crisis we are all facing at the moment, everyone should be out helping each other," he said. Asked when the situation will normalise, Kejriwal said, "At the moment, there is a prediction for rainfall in the next two days. But if there is no rain, then maybe in one-two days the situation will normalise. But if it rains heavily, then we will have to wait and see," he added.

The Delhi chief minister reiterated that this is not the time to indulge in any blame game but said it is clear that all this water in the Yamuna is coming from Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. "It has hardly rained in Delhi over the last three-four days and yet the level of (water in) the river is so high. Also, Delhi has never had the capacity to handle so much water, until now, as it never went this high. It is after 45 years that the level of the water has reached this high. During such a crisis, we believe that we should not be blaming each other and instead work together to solve this problem," he said.

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