India, April 23 -- In a move aimed at bolstering its flood management strategy, the Delhi government plans to take up a silt removal exercise in the Yamuna River at the ITO barrage, officials said on Wednesday. According to officials, the work will be done to deepen the existing water channel starting from the left bank of the river near the barrage. The ITO barrage on the Yamuna is closest to all the areas affected by flooding three years ago, including ITO, Ring Road, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Rajghat and nearby areas. Malfunctioning of the five gates of the barrage due to heavy silting was one of the major factors, officials said.
It would be ensured that no hindrance is caused to the free flow of water in the trench. No silt should be taken away from the floodplain, and the water channel after work should be of regular size," an official of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department (IFC) said. In 2023, due to unprecedented rainfall in the catchment area of the river Yamuna, there was a huge runoff in the river, due to which the highest flood level (HFL) of 208.66 meters was observed on 13 July 2023 at the Old Railway Bridge, surpassing an earlier HFL of 207.49 meters recorded on 6 September 1978. According to an IFC department report, as the gates on the east end of the barrage could not be opened at the peak water level of the Yamuna, the pressure was so high that the water started spilling onto areas, roads, and colonies situated along the river in the stretch between Wazirabad and the ITO barrage. Earlier this month, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta chaired a high-level review meeting, directing all departments to complete desilting of drains on time and ensure special arrangements at known flooding hotspots.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.