Haryana calls in army even as floodwater recedes

CHANDIGARH - Authorities in Haryana’s flood-affected Yamunanagar district Wednesday called in the army to help stem damage to the Yamuna river embankment near the Hathinikund barrage as the floodwaters continued to recede for the second day.

Villages around the Hathinikund barrage and the Tajewala headworks were being threatened by floodwaters as the 4,000-foot embankment started collapsing since Tuesday night.

The army and Haryana irrigation department are taking measures to ensure that the embankment does not give away completely, which could cause floods in nearby villages.

Naresh Gulati, state financial commissioner and principal secretary (Revenue), said the Yamuna’s water level has started receding.

The discharge of water at Hathinikund barrage in the Yamuna was recorded as 82,689 cusecs by 1 p.m. Wednesday.

This is in sharp contrast to the nearly 700,000 cusecs of water discharged into the Yamuna from the Hathinikund barrage Sunday, and more than that Monday.

Breaking records of the last 32 years, the Yamuna river saw a maximum discharge of 744,507 cusecs of water from the Hathinikund barrage in Haryana Monday. The previous record of discharge into the river was 709,000 cusecs, recorded Sep 3, 1978.

Incessant rainfall in the upper reaches of the Shivalik hills and in Uttarakhand has led to heavy inflows.

Gulati said: “The irrigation department has constructed a ring bund along the damaged embankment at a distance of about 750 feet, so that water does not spill over beyond the ring bund.”

Due to heavy rainfall, rain water has accumulated in agricultural fields in 32 villages of Dadri area in Bhiwani district, 45 villages in Rohtak district and 52 villages in Jhajjar district, submerging over 75,000 acres of farm land.

He said that assistance has also been sought from the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF).