Yamuna overflow: Manish Sisodia urges people living near river belt to move to safer places as flood threat looms

New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday took stock of the ongoing evacuation work in the low-lying areas of the city, a day after the water level of the Yamuna river breached the danger mark. The water level reached 205.30 metres at 7 pm on Saturday, prompting authorities to rescue people from the low-lying areas, even as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held an emergency meeting with top officials of his government. [caption id=“attachment_4314373” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Manish Sisodia. News18[/caption] “Sisodia took stock of the ongoing evacuation work in the low-lying areas around Akshardham and Pandav Nagar,” an official said. In a meeting here, Kejriwal had said that all departments have been put on high alert. “Haryana has released 5 lakh cusec water. Called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. This water likely to reach Del by tomorrow evening. Wherever administration evacuating people, they arerequested to cooperate. All departments put on high alert. For any flood related emergency, control room no is 1077 (sic),” he had tweeted on Saturday. The Yamuna water level at the Hathinikund barrage had crossed the danger mark of 90,000 cusec and till 7 pm on Saturday, 5,63,186 cusec of water was released, an official had said. Sisodia met the people living in the vicinity of the river and urged them to move to safer places, cautioning about the rising level of the Yamuna river. Many people have started moving to higher planes, another official said. An alert was sounded on Saturday by the Delhi government after the water level of the Yamuna river crossed the danger mark. “All executive engineers/sector officers are directed to keep in close contact with the control room in relation to the discharge, water level at the Old Railway Bridge and the advisory or forecast from the Central Water Commission/MeT, and requested to take appropriate measures/steps accordingly to avoid flood-like situation,” an advisory from the authorities said.