All the tents at a relief camp in Old Delhi’s Yamuna Bazar have now been submerged.
New Delhi:
Delhi is facing an unprecedented crisis as the Yamuna river burst its banks and flooded the streets of the national capital. With their homes submerged, thousands sought shelter in makeshift shelters set up by the government in several parts of Delhi. But the situation continues to worsen, and some of these shelters have gone under water, adding to the plight of those who have evacuated.
All the tents at a relief camp in Old Delhi’s Yamuna Bazar are now submerged forcing people to seek dry ground. On Thursday, the area remained completely dry and authorities have set up shelters here to evacuate people living in low-lying areas.
The government has set up around 2,700 centres/tents and around 27,000 persons have been registered to live in these shelters, a government statement said.
Those in relief camps are also struggling for food and water, with some people having to queue for hours for food.
The scene in these camps is chaotic, where people congregate in a filthy space with their meager belongings – pots and pans and clothes drying on lines.
“There is no food or water… we are just sitting here… we ate last yesterday morning, made our food with what we had,” said a man who managed to retrieve a charpoy from his house.
The Yamuna’s water level was at all time on Thursday due to unusually heavy rainfall in New Delhi and other northern states. Although water levels are slowly receding, parts of Delhi are still inundated as some jammed flood gates at a barrage on the swollen Yamuna River remain open.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Yamuna is receding slowly and the situation will return to normal soon if there are no more heavy rains, but the flood threat is not over yet.
A blame game has also started between the ruling AAP and the BJP with both blaming each other for situations like the Delhi floods.
AAP has accused the people of Delhi of a conspiracy and blamed the BJP government in Haryana and the Centre. The allegation led to a sharp response from the BJP, which said that the AAP thinks everyone is in on a conspiracy, but Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is “sitting in air-conditioned comfort in his Sheesh Mahal” is doing the right thing.