4 Haryana Officers Face Action Over Jamming Of Delhi ITO Barrage Gates

The Haryana government Wednesday suspended an irrigation department chief engineer and chargesheeted three other officials following a report by the fact-finding committee on the issue of jamming of gates of Delhi's ITO barrage.

"The Haryana Government has taken action against four officers of the Irrigation Department for dereliction of duty during the floods caused by the excessive water level in Yamuna river passing through Haryana region. Action has been taken against these officers after the report of an enquiry committee," said an official statement here on Wednesday.

In July, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar formed a two-member fact-finding committee to look into the jamming of the gates of Delhi's ITO barrage.

"This committee was formed to investigate the matter of jamming of four gates of ITO Yamuna barrage during floods," the state government said in a statement.

Chief Engineer of the irrigation department Sandeep Taneja has been suspended while orders have been issued to chargesheet the department's SE (superintending engineer) Tarun Aggarwal, XEN (executive engineer) Manoj Kumar and Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Mukesh Verma, posted at Yamuna Barrage, it said.

Notably, the 32 gates at the ITO barrage, a 552-meter barrage on the Yamuna river, are under the control of the Haryana irrigation department.

The AAP dispensation in Delhi had last month alleged that the gates of the ITO barrage in the national capital maintained by the Haryana government had jammed due to silt accumulation and had suggested that its maintenance should be handed over to the Delhi government for more efficient management.

The issue had witnessed a counterattack from the BJP-led dispensation in Haryana.

Amid AAP's allegations on the issue, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had last month said unauthorised construction on Yamuna blocked the water flow and due to the silt in it, the water level rose.

AAP alleged that the state released 11 lakh cusecs of water into Yamuna, which is baseless, Khattar had said.

Meanwhile, the state government's statement on Wednesday said due to heavy rains last month, a significant surge in Yamuna level was witnessed and due to the non-opening of four gates of the barrage near ITO in Delhi, excess water could not be cleared in time causing massive waterlogging and floods.

Taking cognizance of this matter, Khattar had formed a three-member committee to investigate the entire matter.

Irrigation Department's engineer-in-chief, Satbir Kadian and chief engineer, Suresh Kumar Yadav were included as members in this committee.

"In its report, the committee observed that these gates were submerged in flood water about 12 feet deep. Apart from it, they were also filled with silt. These gates can be open only when both upstream and downstream silt around these gates is removed through special techniques," the statement said.

"It has been stated in the report that no power connection was available to carry out the process. Floods in Delhi mainly occurred due to excessive encroachment, due to which the water reached up to the Ring Road. Excessive and unplanned construction around the river is obstructing the flow of Yamuna," it said.

Commissioner and Secretary, of the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Pankaj Agarwal said prima facie the lapse on the part of Haryana officials was limited to monitoring and supervision and hoped the Delhi government will also take action for lapses which led to heavy silt accumulation and lack of supervision for this.

According to the report, during the dry season, the flow of the river stops completely.

"The release of polluted water into the river through various drains leads to the accumulation of silt and rise in the river bed levels. In such a situation, Delhi Government should remove the heavy silt in front of gate number 28 to 32 so that flood water can flow through these gates," the report said.

The Yamuna's natural flood outlets have been systematically encroached upon for decades, it said.

The highest discharge has been recorded at Wazirabad Barrage in July at 11,37,020 cusecs in Delhi.

The report said it does not match the release done in Hathnikund barrage or Okhla.

Upper Yamuna River Board should be asked to re-calibrate all gauges at Wazirabad, Yamuna Barrage ITO and Okhla Barrage so that correct gauges are reported in future, it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)