Civic body working on 'war-footing' to deal with flood-like situation: MCD

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is working on "war-footing" to deal with the flood-like situation in some of its areas, while field staff are on "high alert" to deal with any situation, the civic body said on Wednesday.

In view of water levels of the Yamuna river rising to a record level of 207.83 metres on Wednesday, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set 45 years ago, the MCD also issued an advisory to people to use other crematoria for performing last rites as parts of Nigabodh Ghat cremation site has got flooded.

The MCD is working on a "war-footing" to deal with the flood-like situation in some areas located in its Central Zone, City Sadar-Paharganj Zone, Civil Lines Zone, Shahdara (North) Zone and Shahdara (South) Zone due to rise in the water level of Yamuna, the civic body said in a statement.

The Department of Environment Management Service (DEMS) of the MCD is working with the irrigation and flood control department, and has deployed pumps at 10 sites where drains fall into the Yamuna, officials said.

The MCD has deployed pumps in flooded areas to drain out water. Each zone of the corporation has been tasked to prepare 5,000 sand bags each, to be used in case of flooding, they said.

The field staff are on "high alert to deal with any situation," the statement said.

The corporation has asked the veterinary department to promptly pick carcass of animals and citizens can submit complaints on this to the centralised control room on helpline 155305.

The phone numbers of zonal deputy directors of the veterinary department have been shared on all official social media platforms of the MCD, it said.

Working in this direction, the public health department of the MCD has intensified its efforts to prevent spread of any kind of disease, and to ease the flooding situation in the affected areas, the statement said.

The department has intensified anti-larval activities at all waterlogging sites, under which insecticides are being sprayed to prevent breeding of mosquitoes. Dengue breeding checking (DBC) employees are working in all affected areas, it said.

Zonal entomologists of the MCD are monitoring the density of mosquitoes in the affected areas at regular intervals so that the situation can be kept under control, the civic body said.

Epidemiologists and deputy health officer of the civic body are monitoring the situation of vector-borne diseases on a daily basis and every possible effort is being made to prevent them, it added.

A portion of the Nigambodh Ghat in east Delhi has got flooded due to which cremation activities will not be carried on that part of the crematorium, a member of its managing committee had said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the MCD issued an advisory for Nigambodh Ghat in view of the rising water level of the Yamuna river.

The general public is hereby advised to use cremation facilities near Nigambodh Ghat or other cremation grounds in their neighbourhood, the MCD said in a statement.

"The general public is advised to take the body of their near and dear ones to other cremation grounds located at. Panchkuian Road, Sat Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, Green Park, Dakshinpuri or preferably near their colonies," it said.

Apart from this, there is waterlogging at Geeta Colony crematorium due to increasing water level of Yamuna. Citizens are requested to use cremation facilities at Karkarduma and Ghazipur, as arrangements have been done there," it said.

The MCD said it is providing all facilities at its cremation grounds for the convenience of citizens.

The civic body on Wednesday also said that 10 schools in low-lying areas of Civil Lines zone of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and seven in Shahadra area will be closed on July 13 due to flood-like situation in Delhi.