A breach in the Munak canal left parts of northwest Delhi’s Bawana area marooned on Thursday, with around 1,300 homes flooded and videos showing locals wading through knee-deep water. Efforts are now underway to repair the breach while an inquiry is set to determine the cause of the incident.
But for some like Dharmendra Kumar, it’s a point of no return. Kumar says his mother Kaushalya Devi died as she was sleeping on the floor and was frightened when the water “suddenly came into the house” and “started rising very fast”. “Mother was sleeping on the ground floor and she got frightened due to the sudden flood, which led to her death…it was flooded everywhere. We tried to call an ambulance but it did not come. Had the ambulance come on time, perhaps my mother would have been alive today.”
Many are unable to return home as the government is yet to succeed in completely tackling the flooding through pumps. Meanwhile, repairs are being carried out at the canal by the Delhi Jal Board and the Haryana irrigation department. The incident is expected to impact several water treatment plants.
Several locals also claimed that they made a video of water leakage from the canal and sent it to the local MLA seeking repairs.
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