With the water level of Yamuna in Delhi hitting a 60-year-high, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday urged the central government to intervene to ensure that the water level does not rise further. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held an emergency meeting on the situation and urged people living in low lying areas close to the Yamuna to evacuate their houses and not wait at their houses.
Kejriwal said that the areas which have already been affected by flood waters from Yamuna include, Boat Club, Monastery Market, Yamuna Bazar, Geeta Ghat, Garhi Mandu, the stretch from Majnu Ka Tilla to Wazirabad.
“People living in low lying areas near Yamuna in Usmanpur and Badarpur Khadar please evacuate,” Kejriwal said. “People are going to see the flood, please do not go. There are crowds of people clicking selfies or making videos. Please do not do it. If water level increases your life could be in danger,” the CM said.
“We have set up a lot of relief camps and could increase them. I have told DMs that if needed acquire schools and convert them into relief camps.” Kejriwal said Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat has informed him that the volume of water being released to Haryana from Himachal Pradesh has reduced, which in turn will impact the water level in the Yamuna.
However, he said it will take some time for the water level in the river to recede.
Water level of Yamuna in Delhi depends heavily on amount of water being released from Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana, which is upstream of Delhi.
On Tuesday, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the city was unlikely to witness floods, except for areas where people are living close to the river bank.
“There will be no floods in Delhi. You should understand, these are people living temporarily on the banks of Yamuna and when the Yamuna level rises to 206 metres, they have to be evacuated. And it’s only 41,000 people and we are in the process of evacuating them. There is no threat of water getting into residential areas,” Bharadwaj had said.
The Delhi government is in the process of evacuating close to 41,000 people identified as vulnerable and living close to the river. Over 7,000 people were evacuated till Tuesday night.
The Yamuna in Delhi swelled to 207.71 metres on Wednesday, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set in 1978, flooding several riverside areas and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal calling an emergency meeting on the situation.
Data of water levels provided by the Delhi government is only from 1963 and not before it. The Yamuna had breached the ‘danger mark’ of 205.33 metres on Monday evening and it has been rising since then.
In view of the grave situation, the Delhi Police imposed prohibitory measures under CrPC Section 144 in flood-prone areas of the city, preventing unlawful assembly of four or more people and public movement in groups. As the water level rose to a record level, Kejriwal urged the Centre to intervene to ensure that levels of the Yamuna don’t rise further.
In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he requested that “if possible the water from Hathnikund barrage in Haryana be released in limited speed” and pointed out that Delhi is set to host the G-20 Summit meeting in a few weeks.
The swelling of the Yamuna river led to waterlogging in the Delhi Transport Corporation headquarters area near ITO. Its employees waded through the waterlogged entrance to get into the office on Wednesday.
In northeast Delhi’s Gandhi Mendu and Usmanpur villages, flood water has risen to over four feet, local MLA Ajay Mahawar said, adding that the residents have already been moved to safety.
Why did you give Sanjay Kumar Mishra third extension: Sibal on Amit Shah’s remark
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on July 12 took a swipe at Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks that it is not important who the director of the Enforcement Directorate is, asking why did the government then give a third extension to the probe agency’s chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
Sibal’s remarks came a day after the Supreme Court held as “illegal” two successive extensions of one year each granted to the Enforcement Directorate chief, ruling that the Centre’s orders were in “breach” of its mandamus in its 2021 verdict that the IRS officer should not be given further term.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Shah said who the ED director is not important because whoever assumes this role will take note of the rampant corruption of a cozy club of entitled dynasts who have an anti-development mindset. In a tweet, Sibal said, “Sanjay Mishra (ED) Chief. Supreme Court held extension till November invalid. Amit Shah: ‘ED is an institution which rises beyond any one individual...’ Then why did you give him a 3rd extension?”
“Some individuals serve the political interests of the party in power!” the senior advocate and former Union Minister said.
The order of the top court in which it also curtailed Mishra’s extended tenure to July 31 came as a setback to the Centre, even as it upheld the amendments under which a maximum of five-year tenure can be given to directors of the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI).
The amendments were made to the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Act, 2021 and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Act, 2021 as well as to the Fundamental (Amendment) Rules, 2021. Mishra, 62, was first appointed the ED director for two years on November 19, 2018. Later, by an order dated November 13, 2020, the Central government modified the appointment letter retrospectively and his two-year term was changed to three years.
Opposition meet in Bengaluru: Sonia Gandhi to be part of the meet, says Congress sources
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be part of a dinner that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be hosting for Opposition leaders at Bengaluru for the mega Opposition meet in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18.
Gandhi is expected to be part of the formal deliberations on July 18 as well for which Congress president Malikarjun Kharge has sent out invitation to 24 like-minded parties including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). It is unclear whether or not the AAP would attend the Bengaluru meet as it had announced that it would keep away from such meets until the Congress publicly assures them of support in the Rajya Sabha to negate the Centre’s ordinance on Delhi services. The said ordinance gives the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi the final say over government officers in the national capital.
Sources said MDMK, KDMK, VCK, RSP, Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph) and Kerala Congress (Mani) are the new invitees who were not part of the June 23 meeting. Together, these 24 Opposition parties have around 150 Lok Sabha members and hope to expand their footprints.
A senior Opposition leader, who was part of the Patna meeting, told The Hindu that the invitation letter from Kharge said that there will be a dinner on July 17, followed by a formal structured meeting on July 18.
Sources said there is an assessment in the Opposition camp, publicly articulated by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, that the Narendra Modi government could spring a surprise by advancing the Lok Sabha polls and that’s why the Opposition parties want the widest possible consensus on various issues as early as possible.
Kumar has proposed a one-on-one formula where the Opposition parties can have a joint candidate against the BJP to avoid a split in the anti-BJP votes. However, so far, there is no agreement on such a formula.
The possibility of more Opposition parties breaking up before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will also come up for discussion at the Bengaluru meet after the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) witnessed a vertical spilt soon after the Patna meet.
At Patna, as many as 32 Opposition leaders including 6 Chief Ministers from 15 political parties were present. Though 16 parties were invited to the meeting, Rashtriya Lok Dal‘s (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary did not attend citing a family function.
Chaudhary announced that he will be attending the Opposition meeting in Karnataka, yet, there is speculation about the RLD joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) soon.
Supreme Court fixes Umar Khalid’s bail plea hearing on July 24
The Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled the hearing in a plea for bail filed by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid on July 24 after the Delhi police sought an adjournment.
A Bench led by Justice A.S. Bopanna initially fixed the date on July 21, but the police counsel said Monday was usually busy in court and sought a later date. Justice Bopanna snubbed that it was for the court to gauge whether it would be busy or not and fix dates for hearings. At that point, the police counsel said the charge sheet in the case was “voluminous” and lawyers would need some time to prepare the case for arguments in the apex court.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for Khalid, said his client had been in jail for two years. A hearing on his plea for personal liberty should not be delayed any longer. Khalid is booked under the UAPA in a case linked to the February 2020 riots in the national capital. He is accused of being part of a “larger conspiracy” behind the communal violence.
The Delhi High Court had in October last year refused to grant bail to Khalid, saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and allegations against him were prima facie true. The High Court had said the acts of the accused prima facie qualified as “terrorist act” under the UAPA. The High Court had said the anti-CAA protests “metamorphosed into violent riots”, which “prima facie seemed to be orchestrated at the conspiratorial meetings”, and the statements of the witnesses indicate Khalid’s “active involvement” in the protests.
In Brief:
PM Modi to visit U.A.E. on his return journey from France
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Abu Dhabi on July 15 during which he will hold wide-ranging talks with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, to take forward bilateral ties in key areas of energy, food security, and defence. PM Modi will visit Abu Dhabi after concluding his two-day visit to Paris. “The India-U.A.E. comprehensive strategic partnership has been steadily strengthening and the Prime Minister’s visit will be an opportunity to identify ways to take this forward in various domains such as energy, education, healthcare, food security, fintech, defence and culture,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
India’s retail inflation jumps to 4.81% in June due to surging food prices
India’s retail inflation hardened to 4.81% in June from 4.31% in May, driven by a spike in food price inflation faced by consumers which rose to 4.5% from less than 3% in the previous month, government data showed on July 12. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.31% (revised upward from 4.25%) in May and 7% in June 2022. The inflation, however, remains within the RBI’s comfort level of below 6%. The previous high CPI was in March at 5.66%.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
