Delhi's Bawana under water after midnight breach of major canal

The residents of outer Delhi's Bawana faced chaos on Thursday as water entered the streets and residential areas due to a major breach in the Munak canal sub branch overnight.

The pictures and videos of the locals wading through waist deep water in Bawana JJ colony area, waterlogged houses, school and hospital went viral on social media even as teams of engineers from Haryana and Delhi worked on a war footing to plug the breach.

Delhi water minister Atishi, who visited the site of canal breach, said the repair work was expected to be complete by Thursday night.

Water supply of the carrier line channel was diverted to the other sub branch of the Munak canal for the purpose of repair work.

She said after the emergency situation is handled, an inquiry will be conducted by the Irrigation departments of Delhi and Haryana into the reason behind the canal breach.

The minister said that the functioning of four water treatment plants was also affected in the city due to breach in the CLC of Munak canal supplied Yamuna water from Haryana to Delhi.

The water supply to Bawana, Nangloi and Hyderpur water treatment plants was likely to normalise by Thursday evening. However, production from Dwarka plant that completely depended on CLC for water was expected to normalise by Friday evening, she said in a digital briefing.

Supply in many areas was affected due to the impact on the water treatment plants, she said.

The embankment of Munak canal's sub branch (career line channel, CLC) breached between 12 midnight and 2 am on Thursday. This caused water from the Munak canal to enter many areas of Bawana, Atishi said.

The Munak canal that carries Yamuna water to Delhi is maintained by the Haryana government.

The team of Haryana's irrigation department is present at the breach site since last night and the Delhi Jal Board team is also there to provide it any support needed, she said

"The repair work has started on a war footing to plug the breach. We are in regular touch with Haryana department. After the breach was reported in the CLC embankment, water released into it from Kakroi head was diverted to another sub-branch of the Munak canal," she said.

After water flow in the CLC completely stops, an embankment will be built. Then the breached portion will be repaired and the work will be completed hopefully by late night, she added.

Atishi said mobile pumps by different agencies, including MCD, PWD and DDA, were deployed to drain out the water from the inundated areas. She expected the situation would normalise soon.

Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the chief secretary that National Disaster Response Force may be asked to evacuate the stranded people.

He also directed various agencies to undertake relief and rehabilitation, Raj Niwas officials said.

The LG took stock of the flooding due to Munak canal breach in a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

He was informed that directions issued by him in this regard were being executed, they said.

The water from the Munak canal entered the J, K and L blocks of the colony in northwest Delhi early Thursday, causing significant inconvenience and concern for the locals, a police official said.

Multiple videos of the waterlogged streets emerged showing people wading through water carefully and holding on to one another for support. Images of children playing in shallow water were also splashed on social media platforms.

A local resident complained that a lot of problems were being faced by the people in JJ colony due to waterlogging and the people were sharing food and water but there was no help available from the officials.

Another affected resident, Arun Kumar, said that people were facing problems in meeting basic needs like drinking water and food because of the flooding.

"We are unable to do anything. Everything has come to a halt and we cannot even cook food. Kids are playing in the water because they do not understand the situation," he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP from North West Delhi constituency, Yogender Chandolia, said that he received a call at 2.30 am about water entering the Bawana JJ colony following which power was cut off due to the risk of electric current flowing through water.

Chandolia claimed after learning about the breach, he went to Garhi Bindroli village in Haryana from where water for the Munak Canal is released and temporarily got it stopped to prevent more water to enter Bawana through the damaged portion.