INDIA: Delhi on flood alert

NEW DELHI: New Delhi was on alert as the Yamuna River was at least a metre above danger level and low-lying parts of adjoining Haryana state were inundated.

The situation was under control in the Indian capital and there was no need to panic, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters.

Excess water had been released at an upstream dam on the river in Haryana, raising fears that parts of Delhi, including the complex meant to house athletes for the Commonwealth Games, scheduled for October 3-14, might be flooded.

'No area of Delhi is under any flood threat,' insisted SS Ghonkrokta, Delhi government deputy commissioner.

Ghonkrokta said people had been evacuated from low-lying areas near the river as a precaution.

'At least 99.1 per cent of people have been moved to safer places; camps have been set up,' Dikshit said.

Ghonkrokta said most of the excess water released upstream had already flowed past Delhi.

The situation in Haryana's Yamunanagar district, however, was grim with flooding of more than 65 villages and vast swathes of farmland, the PTI news agency reported.

Army personnel were helping the civil administration in relief and rescue operations.

India's seasonal monsoon rains usually peter out by September, but Indian Meteorological Department Director BP Yadav said they were likely to continue in Delhi, Haryana and the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for another three to five days. 

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