Floodwaters inundated the Yamuna ghat area in Delhi on Monday.
| Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV
The Delhi government on Monday told the High Court that it has taken various steps to provide relief to the flood-affected families in the city.
The Delhi government’s counsel told the court, which was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking free ration, medical assistance etc., at the relief camps here, that cabinet decision has been taken to provide a financial assistance of ₹10,000 each to the affected families apart from the shelter given to them.
The High Court asked the government to file a status report on the issue and posted the matter for further hearing on September 13.
Petitioner Akash Bhattacharya, a former assistant professor at the Azim Premji University, said in his plea that around 25,000 people have been affected by the flood and their livestock are living in extreme conditions at the relief camps, without proper sanitation facilities and food.
The petition said the unprecedented flood rendered hundreds of people who reside on the Yamuna floodplain homeless and submerged several houses in the river bed.
“In the alarming and unprecedented situation, the state machinery of the capital has failed to protect the life and livelihood of hundreds of people in the capital,” it claimed.
The plea sought to direct the Delhi government to notify this flood as a natural disaster under the National Disaster Management Authority Act.
It also sought a direction to the Delhi government to appoint a nodal officer for examining the loss that occurred and conducting surveys of the victims in every camp to provide an immediate cash assistance of ₹50,000 for those who lost their belongings and shelter.
“Direct the state authorities to take immediate measures to provide free ration, medical assistance, sanitary facilities and essential medicines to prevent post-flood endemics and water-borne diseases,” it said.