First jammed gate of ITO Barrage opened, water level in Yamuna decreasing: Arvind Kejriwal

Situation in Delhi seems to be improving slowly as the first jammed gate of the ITO Barrage was opened while the water level in Yamuna has started receding.

New Delhi:Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal informed that the first jammed gate of the ITO Barrage has been opened with the help of Army and the diving team.

Kejriwal said that the diving team extracted silt from under the water with a compressor and then the gate could be opened. The entire gate opening operation took around 20 hours, he said.

Kejriwal tweeted, "After nearly 20 hours of non-stop toil, the first jammed gate of the ITO Barrage has been opened. A diving team extracted the silt from under the water with a compressor, then the gate was pulled up with a hydra crane."

He thanked the Army Engineer Regiment and the divers. "Soon all the five gates will be opened. Special thanks to the Army Engineer Regiment and the divers," he posted. The Delhi chief minister inspected the work to open the five gates of Yamuna Barrage and said that these gates were being opened to bring the situation under control. Also, he expressed grief over the death of three children who drowned in a ditch amid waterlogging in the area.

Earlier, Delhi government sought help of the Army and disaster relief force to fix the damage at regulator of a drain near the WHO building that was letting water from the Yamuna enter the city through the breach. The chief minister had also visited the spot for inspection.

Meanwhile, the water level in Yamuna that dropped to 207.98m on Friday night, stood at 207.62m at 7 am on Saturday. Officials said that the water level is expected to dip to 206m by the end of the day.

Kejriwal sounded optimistic on Saturday and has assured that the situation will become normal soon unless there is no further heavy rainfall in the region.