Delhi floods: Traffic regulated, non-destined commercial vehicles restricted

Traffic has been regulated at separate places in Delhi while non-destined commercial vehicles were being restricted from entering the city due to the rise in Yamuna waters level and inundation of low-lying areas.

In an advisory on Thursday morning, the Delhi Traffic Police cited the restrictions and regulations of vehicular movement and asked commuters to plan their journeys accordingly.

The restrictions have been put in place on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg between Indraprastha flyover and Chandgi Ram Akhara, Kalighat Mandir and Delhi Secretariat, and on the Outer Ring Road between Wazirabad Bridge and Chandgi Ram Akhara.

Special police commissioner (traffic) SS Yadav said non-destined commercial vehicles were being diverted to the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressway. “The commercial vehicles will also be diverted from Mukarba Chowk and they will not be allowed between Mukarba Chowk and Wazirabad Bridge,” he said.

Yadav added the commercial vehicles going towards the Indraprastha flyover have been diverted from Sarai Kale Khan.

The Yamuma was flowing at 208.48 metres at 8am on Thursday and expected to swell further to 208.75 metres between 3-5 pm a day after the surging water levels in the river breached a 45-year-old landmark to touch a record high of 208.08 metres at 11pm on Wednesday. The surging waters marooned low-lying neighbourhoods and triggered heightened evacuation efforts.

Officials said the Yamuna was flowing three metres above the danger level (205.33 metres) on Thursday morning. The Yamuna level on Wednesday broke the previous record of 207.49 on September 6, 1978.

Monastery Market and Majnu ka Tila in north Delhi, Mayur Vihar Phase I and Geeta Colony in east Delhi, and multiple portions on Ring Road near Kashmere Gate in old Delhi were among the places inundated on Wednesday. Some sections of the Ring Road and Bhairon Marg in central Delhi were closed on Wednesday evening.

As many as 16,500 people from six districts were evacuated on Wednesday and housed in 2,500 relief camps as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called an emergency meeting and wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention in stopping the release of water from Hathni Kund barrage in Haryana, about 230km upstream. The Yamuna level is directly linked to the release of water in the barrage.

The quantum of the water being sent downstream from Hathni Kund was considerably lower than earlier because rivers upstream in Himachal were no longer in spate.

Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena, who visited flood-affected areas, has called a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on Thursday.