Haryana gives in-principle nod for handover of ITO barrage, crucial for flood management in Delhi

In July, the Delhi government had formally requested the Haryana government to hand over control of the ITO barrage on the Yamuna, as the Capital had previously been affected by floods, and the control needed to be in the hands of the Delhi government, especially in case of emergencies. The ITO barrage has been a point of contention during the 2023 floods. Five of the 32 gates of the barrage were found to be jammed, leading to delays in flood mitigation efforts.

Navin Kumar Choudhary, Additional Chief Secretary, I&FC, told The Indian Express, “For a long time, this has been under discussion… The decision of handover was taken a couple of weeks ago, and now only a few official formalities are needed to be completed.” Anurag Aggarwal, Additional Chief Secretary of the Haryana government’s Irrigation and Flood Control department, confirmed that discussions were underway, but refused to comment on the handover.

With this move, the Delhi government will manage the operations of two barrages in Delhi— Wazirabad and ITO. Of the three major barrages on the Yamuna in Delhi, the Delhi government currently controls only the Wazirabad barrage. The Okhla barrage is under the control of the Uttar Pradesh government, while the ITO barrage has so far been managed by Haryana.

Recent heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas led to a rise in the water level of Yamuna river, prompting different agencies under the Delhi government to evacuate more than 10,000 people from low-lying and inundated areas. The water level remained above the danger mark for days in a row and the levels were merely 0.01 metre below the historic level of 1978 when it had touched 207.49 metres.

In July, officials had also said that the gates at the barrage were repaired to prevent any flood-like situation, and were constantly monitored.

This is not the first time that the Delhi government has requested Haryana to hand over the control of the ITO barrage to allow quicker on-ground response. There were no significant outcomes to such appeals earlier as senior Haryana government officials had argued that they needed to have the control of the barrage to gather data for resolving any water-sharing disputes while also maintaining that it has a strategic role.

The ITO barrage, also known as the Indraprastha barrage, was built in the 1960s by the then Punjab government (when Haryana was part of Punjab) to supply water to the Indraprastha and Rajghat Thermal Power Plants in Delhi. The operation and maintenance of the barrage was later assigned to Haryana’s Irrigation department. In course of time, both the power stations became non-operational.

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