Delhi floods: Minister Bharadwaj confronts L-G, says ‘would’ve been better if NDRF had come last night’

#WATCH | Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena and CM Arvind Kejriwal brief the media after inspecting the spot at Vikas Bhawan, ITO where a drain regulator is damaged.

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj tells the Lt Governor that he made several requests to different officers last night to… pic.twitter.com/f9XYnRtVCX

— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2023

According to Bharadwaj, the regulator broke due to the pressure and as a result of which the river’s water is flowing back into the city through the drain. Following the damage to the regulator on Thursday evening, Bharadwaj has been at the spot monitoring the repair work.

“…this problem is being handled in a number of ways; sand bags are being installed…stones will be brought to create embankments, the Army is working…there was a similar breach in Sonia Vihar which was tackled, this too will be tackled…this is an unprecedented situation and we are all working towards solving it together…,” Saxena told reporters.

As soon as the L-G’s briefing ended, Bharadwaj brought to his notice on the delayed deployment of the NDRF team. He said he had spoken to “several officers last night” itself seeking the deployment of the NDRF but they “did not listen”.

“The NDRF has come now. Thank you hai, par raat ko aa jati to behtar hota… (Thank you, but had the NDRF been deployed last night it would have been better),” Bharadwaj remarked.

He then proceeded to complain that in addition to making calls, he had left messages on WhatsApp groups with bureaucrats in this regard.

The L-G responded saying this was not the time to pin blame on each other. “…I can also say many things for the sake of saying them, but that is not the need of the hour. Our priority should be solving the problems being faced by the people, all this can wait…we should handle this intelligently and with cooperation…” he said.

The L-G sought to clarify that he had spoken to the NDRF in time as well as the Union Home Minister; an assessment of the situation had followed and the team had now been deployed.

This was followed by CM Kejriwal stating that he hoped that the situation would be under control soon.

“This is a new crisis which has surfaced and we hope that it will be under control soon…this breach is where water is entering the city…now that (NDRF) teams have been deployed, let’s hope the situation improves soon,” he said.

Bharadwaj and Atishi led an inspection of the site after Kejriwal’s arrival to assess the situation.

Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar said the Army and NDRF have arrived. “The bund is being created at all the low-lying areas like ITO, Sonia Vihar and other places to prevent the water. Everything depends on nature, engineers are working to prevent the flooding,” he said.