Yamuna recedes: Those evacuated return to banks

AROUND 7PM ON THURSDAY, THE WATER LEVEL STOOD AT 204.22 METRES. IT HAD TOUCHED A FIVEYEAR PEAK OF 206.5 METRES ON TUESDAY EVENING

NEWDELHI: After a gap of almost a week, water level in the Yamuna river is almost back to its normal state. While the Yamuna has already come out of the ‘danger level’ of 204.8 metres, it is expected to drop below the ‘warning level’ of 204 metres by Friday.

Around 7pm on Thursday, the water level stood at 204.22 metres. It had touched a fiveyear peak of 206.5 metres on Tuesday evening. Before the flood scare, the water level at Yamuna stood at 203.36 metres at 9pm on July 25.

K Mahesh, district magistrate of east Delhi, said, “The water level is receding fast. It is expected to drop below the 204metre mark by Friday.”

With the water level receding, several people who had to be evacuated from their homes and given shelter at camps set up by the government, have started returning to the floodplains. Traffic, too, resumed at the old iron bridge from Thursday evening.

Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said, “We opened the old iron bridge for traffic movement around 5pm after we received permissions from the authorities concerned.”

Maintaining that the people who had taken shelter at the camps for the last couple of days, Rajesh Chaudhury, SDM, Vivek Vihar, said, “One of the largest campsites we had set up was the one opposite Gandhi Nagar market. At least, 150-200 people had put up in the 40 tents there till Wednesday. On Thursday, most of them returned to their shanties on the floodplains. Only 10 tents at the campsite are occupied as of now.”

Government officials, meanwhile, said that although there is a risk of outbreak of enteric and water-borne diseases following a flood, no such case has been reported as yet.

The government and civic agencies said they have undertaken all kinds of measures — including sprinkling of bleaching powder and anti-larval spray and distribution of ORS pouches — to prevent the outbreak of disease. The officials also said that doctors are doing the rounds at the campsites and ambulances have been kept ready.