Delhi flood news: AAP, BJP leaders engage in war of words as national capital struggles with clogged roads, flooded areas

Amid flooded roads and scarcity of drinking water in Delhi, there was intense blame game between the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi and Haryana's BJP government.  

The AAP government has been blaming that there has been high discharge of water from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana. On the other hand, the Centre has said that the barrage has its own capacity to stop water and it is not a dam.  

On Friday, the AAP shared a video claiming that the BJP government in Haryana diverted all water from the Hathnikund barrage towards Delhi, while the Uttar Pradesh side was dry. 

The Yamuna water, which entered the city on Thursday, started receding on Friday night, but a few areas are still inundated.  

In reply, the Haryana government said the claim was misleading as the CWC guideline stipulated that if the water is more than 1 lakh cusec, then it can't be streamed into Western Yamuna and Eastern Yamuna Canal (the other routes apart from Delhi).  

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar's advisor retired IAS Devendra Singh on Friday said there is nothing controversial in it and an unnecessary controversy is being created over it. 

The political blame game continued on Saturday. East Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir today said Delhi floods are bound to happen due to nine years of freebies politics. 

“It is very unfortunate but not surprising. This was bound to happen. If you indulge in the politics of freebies and won't spend even Rs 1 for Delhi's infrastructure, then it will obviously crumble," Gambhir said. 

"Kejriwal promised so many things that Delhi would become Paris. My constituency is the worst affected. Go see the situation of Mayur Vihar. People were stuck for two days without water and food. You did not even evacuate them," Gambhir added. 

Gambhir earlier visited the affected the areas and said he is closely watching the rescue operations.

Flood situation in Delhi 

The water level of Yamuna witnessed a steady decline and came down to 207.68 metres on Saturday morning at the Old Railway Bridge. Several areas in Delhi are still flooded.

According to an official statement of Delhi government, a total of 25,478 people have been evacuated so far from the flood-affected areas through rescue operations.  

The Delhi Government reported that 22,803 individuals have been relocated to tents and shelters. Additionally, 16 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed to assist with rescue efforts in the flood-affected districts.