Delhi floods: AAP minister takes swipe at L-G over claims about lapses by AAP govt

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) Delhi Irrigation Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday took a swipe at Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K. Saxena after the latter, citing a report by experts and agencies, highlighted the "lapses" by the AAP government in managing the floods in the national capital.

The L-G noted about the "lapses" in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Responding to Saxena, Bharadwaj in a letter said: "I am bit surprised, being the Minister in-charge of the concerned Departments, I was neither taken in loop by your good self or the officers of the department while preparing any such report nor was such file routed through the undersigned. I expected your good office to follow these basic principles of governance."

"I was amazed to see that how conveniently all the responsibility has been pushed towards Delhi government despite Haryana government already accepting the fact that it was due to the fault of their engineers that gates of ITO barrage were not opened for last many years," he wrote to the LG.

The AAP minister further said: "Your good self forgot to mention how huge quality of water was diverted to Yamuna river in Delhi while Eastern Yamuna canal was kept dry to save Uttar Pradesh from flooding. The large quantities of water was diverted towards Delhi despite knowing the fact the river was flowing above danger mark and had started flooding vital parts of Delhi including the water treatment plants."

"Some facts are conveniently concealed regarding various obstructions in river Yamuna that have been created by Central government agencies in the name of various road/railway construction projects like RRTS. Ideally, they should have been removed before the monsoon season. This also led to reduced flow of floodwater outside Delhi causing increased level within the city," he said.

"It was the responsibility of HOD of IFC (Irrigation and Flood Control) department to coordinate with those agencies and inform the Minister about the same. Despite failing in his duties, he continues to remain on his seat," Bharadwaj added.