Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday formed a two-member fact-finding committee to look into the jammed gates of the ITO barrage in Delhi. The move comes days after the AAP alleged that the gates of the barrage maintained by the Haryana government had jammed due to silt accumulation and said its maintenance should be handed over to the Delhi government for more efficient management.
Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday said the five jammed gates at the barrage were disrupting the flow of the Yamuna water. During an inspection of the barrage, Bharadwaj had said five of the 32 gates were jammed and hindering the quick drainage of river water.
In a release on Saturday, the Haryana government said Khattar directed to constitute a two-member high-level fact-finding technical committee, taking cognisance of social media posts and news received through different media about the five gates of Delhi's ITO barrage being jammed.
The committee will thoroughly investigate the matter and submit its report to the chief minister within 24 hours. Two engineers-in-chief have been made members of the panel, the release said. Khattar said the Haryana government wants to know the truth about the gates being jammed with full impartiality. The state government is working promptly in providing relief to the flood-affected people, he added in the statement.
The Haryana chief minister said almost all states in north India have suffered huge loss of life and property due to the floods. He urged all the state governments to work in solidarity and refrain from blaming each other as flood is a natural calamity and it has affected states, including Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
On Friday, Khattar hit out at the AAP leadership, which accused Haryana of causing the flood in parts of Delhi. AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Friday accused the BJP-led government in Haryana of releasing water in the Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage.
After wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods in parts of Delhi, the level of the swollen Yamuna on Saturday followed a downward trend as the floodwater receded from many areas. Kejriwal said the water level of the Yamuna is receding slowly and the situation will normalise soon if there is no more heavy rain, but added that threat of flood is not over yet.
According to the Central Water Commission's flood-monitoring portal, the Yamuna's water level declined to 206.87 metres by 7 pm on Saturday from its peak of 208.66 metres at 8 pm on Thursday. With the flow rate from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana's Yamunanagar decreasing over the past two days, further decline is expected. However, the water level of the Yamuna is still above the danger mark of 205.33 metres.
