"Water from Hathnikund barrage intentionally being sent to Delhi": AAP's Sanjay Singh
Jul 14, 2023
New Delhi [India], July 14 : With the Yamuna river in Delhi flowing above the danger mark for days creating flood-like situation across the city, Aam Aadmi Party on Friday alleged that the BJP through its government in Haryana is "intentionally" diverting the water to the national capital.
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar, said, "In case of a flood, water is released from Hathni Kund towards Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi in balanced quantities. But from July 9 to 13, all the water was released towards Delhi. Had water been released equally towards all the three states, the areas of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh adjacent to the Yamuna would have been safe."
Singh listed out the five states that are the most affected by the floods in the country and pointed out how Delhi is included in this list despite there being no rainfall in the last three days. "There are five states within the country that are facing the brunt of natural calamity at the moment - Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. If we speak only about Delhi, everyone present here today will be aware that in the last three days, it hasn't rained in the city. Then why is it still that the water level of the Yamuna has constantly been on the rise and it has gone on to flood parts of the city that are in the low-lying region?" he asked.
Singh provided further details and said that the water from the Hathnikund barrage was intentionally only being sent to Delhi to flood parts of the city. "At the Hathnikund barrage, there are three different routes that the flow of water takes. One stream brings the water into Delhi, another takes it to Uttar Pradesh and the final stream takes the water into Haryana. Ideally in a situation of a flood such as this one, it would have been ideal if the pressure of water was equally distributed into the three canals. But the BJP conspired to send all of the water into the stream that forms the Yamuna river and enters Delhi," he said.
He added, "I have the log sheets of the water meter at these places to show that since July 9, no water has been sent on the other two streams and all of the water has been allowed to flow into Delhi. It is very clear that the attempt over here was to drown as much of Delhi as possible."
He further said, "However it is by the grace of God that there is a state government such as the Kejriwal Government in Delhi, and they have been working overtime to address the people created by this in Delhi. Otherwise, the situation on the ground would have been worse than the floods that we saw in Delhi in 1978."
He also said that the seven BJP MPs should have appealed to the Haryana government and the Prime Minister to release water equally in UP, Haryana and Delhi, but they did not do so.
Lashing out at BJP leaders, he said, "But why are the leaders of the BJP indulging in such negative politics? There are 7 BJP MPs in Delhi and ideally, they should have all requested the Prime Minister to equally distribute this water among the three canals. If the water had been equally distributed then we would not see such floods in Delhi."
"This action of the BJP Government has also caused a lot of flooding in Noida and Haryana as well. There is a 230-kilometre stretch in which Delhi, Haryana and UP come and all of these areas have now been flooded," he added.
Besides, Priyanka Kakkar said, "The BJP government comprises people who seem to have had no sympathy towards the citizens. They must be held responsible for their actions. We demand answers as to why no water was released from the Hathini Kund Barrage between July 9 and July 13, and why the entire water flow was diverted towards Delhi, causing these devastating floods."
