Amid Heavy Rain Weather Office Issues Yellow Alert For Delhi

The India Meteorological Department on Monday issued a 'yellow alert' for the national capital while the Yamuna River in Delhi, which was flowing above warning level for hours, crossed the danger mark of 205.33 metres at 5 pm on Monday, the latest data from the flood control department said.

Moreover, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that the government is on alert mode and that is fully prepared to control the situation after the administration issued a flood alert following the release of a significant amount of water, totaling over one lakh cusecs, into the Yamuna River from the Hathnikund barrage by Haryana. Additionally, at 1 pm on Monday, 1,90,837 cusecs of water was released from the same barrage.

Roads in several parts of the capital were submerged in knee-deep water as it was inundated with 153 millimetres of rain, the highest precipitation in a single day in July in 40 years.

"Delhi government is on full alert. As the water will go above 206 metres, we will start shifting people, living on the banks. The process of taking them safely to the relief camp will be started. Earlier we were feeling that the water level would cross 205 meters on June 11, but it has crossed 205 meters today itself because more water is being released from Haryana," he told ANI.

According to the flood bulletin, the water level at the Old Railway Bridge increased 205.4 metres at 5 pm on Monday.

The water level in Yamuna is rising continuously as Haryana released more water into the river from the Hathnikund barrage amid rains across northwest India including the national capital.

IMD further stated that Delhi witnessed 16 cm of rainfall over the national capital after 41 years.

Speaking with ANI, IMD Senior Scientist Dr Soma Sen Roy said, "The interaction zone is being persisting for the last 3-4 days and the monsoon trough was earlier dipping into eastern and Bay of Bengal. The monsoon eastern has moved away from the Bay of Bengal, moisture from Bay of Bengal has seized, but from the Arabian Sea moisture has started to flow because a low-pressure system has formed. As this interaction is not a very common phenomenon, but when a westerly system and an easterly system interact and this interaction is relatively less common, but because of that after 41 years we have got around 16cm rainfall and on Sunday, we got more than 10cm rainfall over Delhi. Particularly for today also, we have given up to 12cm rainfall. It might be more. We are monitoring and we will keep you informed."

There is a yellow alert for Delhi today and if necessary we will upgrade the alert level as well as the rainfall warning based on the main region of interaction, Mr Roy added.

On warning, Mr Roy said, "For Delhi, we are issuing alerts at subdivision level or state level. From our meteorological centres, district-level warnings are being issued for the districts which are likely to be affected by flash floods, landslides, heavy rain and thunderstorm'.

Speaking about if it's common to witness such heavy rainfall that Delhi has been experiencing during monsoon, Mr Roy said, "Such rainfall may not have happened in Delhi, but it has happened in the past. It is not a very uncommon feature of monsoon whether easterly system or westerly system interact. Only this time it has happened after 41 years over Delhi. So, we are seeing this kind of intense spell over Delhi. If you remember, in 2013, the Uttarakhand episode, there was a low pressure system which moved from the Bay of Bengal and there was much deeper moisture coming in and that also interacted with westerly trough."

The Delhi Traffic Police issued a situation alert of water logging at several places, uprooting of trees, underpasses were inundated such as under the Minto bridge, the Pragati Maidan tunnel and the Kalindi Kunj underpass were flooded.

He also issued a warning for diseases and asked people to remain cautious and not to be adventurous and stay protected, follow the forecast.

Earlier today, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that there is no flood threat in Delhi due to the rise in water level of Yamuna, following two days of heavy rain in the national capital and adjoining areas.

Waterlogging issues were also observed in diplomatic enclaves such as Chanakyapuri, Kaka Nagar, Bharti Nagar, and other prominent roads and colonies under the jurisdiction of the NDMC.

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the government is in alert mode and that is fully prepared to control the situation. 

"Delhi government is on full alert. As the water will go above 206 metres, we will start shifting people, living on the banks. The process of taking them safely to the relief camp will be started. Earlier we were feeling that the water level would cross 205 meters on June 11, but it has crossed 205 meters today itself because more water is being released from Haryana," he told ANI.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that there is no flood threat in Delhi due to the rise in the water level of Yamuna, following two days of heavy rain in the national capital and adjoining areas.

He also urged all political parties to refrain from blame games stating that it was not the time to "point fingers" at each other."A flood-like situation unlikely to arise in Delhi. Government is prepared to deal with any situation," he said addressing a press conference here after a meeting to review the city's handling of the heavy rainfall

.Kejriwal said, "It is not the time to point fingers and single out anybody." He added that evacuation of people from low-lying areas around Yamuna will commence once the river breaches the 206-metre mark.The IMD has issued an orange alert for today in the national capital.

Ahead of the review meeting today Delhi's Public Works Department (PWD) minister Atishi inspected the Yamuna River's water level.

The national capital recorded 153 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending at 8:30 am on Sunday, the highest in a single day in July since 1982, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Several parts of northwest India witnessed a heavy spell of rain with Delhi shattering a 41-year record on Sunday, IMD said.

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'Survivor Syndrome': Ukraine Refugees Cope With Guilt Of Fleeing War

Ukrainian refugee Lana Lisetska has forgiven herself for "being saved" and is rebuilding her life thanks to a programme that tackles the often overlooked mental health struggles of people fleeing the war.

"For the first few months I was suffering from what they call 'Survivor Syndrome'," said Ms Lisetska, who fled to neighbouring Moldova with her seven-year-son just after the outbreak of the war more than a year ago.

"You know you are safe but inside you have this feeling of guilt, that you have betrayed your country and your parents."

Ms Lisetska, 32, left her husband and her friends behind to get her son to safety and is now living at a Moldovan refugee centre at Nisporeni close to the border with Romania. But she never took off her little heart pendant in the blue and yellow colours of her homeland.

She would burst into tears in the strangest of times and places, even when she was at the hairdresser. "There were people in Mariupol and in Bucha who had nothing to eat then" and here she was getting her hair cut, she remembered thinking.

But the "most terrible thing is when you learn to live with that" as if it were normal, she told AFP.

But thanks to help from psychologists from Doctors of the World, Ms Lisetska has got a job with a company handling hotel reservations.

You Suppress A Lot

Moldavia, which like neighbouring Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union, is hosting more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees -- a major challenge for a poor country of only 2.6 million people.

It has got support from some 40 major humanitarian organisations including Doctors of the World, which has made refugees' mental health problems a priority.

"It's a critical area where we can provide support," Liz Devine, its American-born general coordinator there told AFP.

"The thing about mental health as it doesn't always come out at first... It's kind of panic and fear in the early days," she added.

"You can suppress a lot and these issues can manifest themselves in different ways over the course of time."

Ms Devine said 86 percent of Ukrainian refugees in Moldova are women and children.

"That's an incredibly high ratio compared to what you'd find in other refugee" situations.

"The husbands, the brothers and the sons remain in Ukraine either to fight or to provide other support" for the war effort.

So feelings of being isolated and all alone are common. Even surrounded by pictures of her family back in Ukraine, Elena Bavyko felt that acutely. The photos are also a reminder of her ultimate goal -- to return home.

If she is doing better now, it is down to the psychological support she has received, she believed.

Art Therapy

"I discovered an absolutely new method in group sessions, where we could cry and talk about our problems together," the 23-year-old said.

"When you hear someone else's story, you understand that you are not alone in this, and it becomes easier," she added.

Ms Bavyko has since begun helping other Ukrainians who have fled with the NGO Acted.

Like Larissa Demcenco, a lawyer from Odesa who is now living in the Moldovan capital Chisinau with her 20-year-old daughter, she also found art therapy very useful.

"You paint and try to visualise your dreams," said Ms Demcenco, who has now got a job working with children.

"Our mission is now to go back to Ukraine and use these techniques with those who had stayed on and suffered there."

Most of the 686,000 Ukrainians who poured over the border into Moldova thought their stay there would be brief. Many moved on to other countries, or went home. But for those with no choice but to stay, the war dragging on has thrown up new problems.

Doctors of the World said many are "exhausted by not being able to predict what the future might bring", which for the most vulnerable can lead to "an endemic state of stress".

It is also trying to support overstretched frontline workers dealing with refugees using a programme called "Help the helpers" it developed in Lebanon.

"It is hard to watch what Ukrainian refugees are going through," said Moldovan Nadia Pascaru Botnaru, 41, the local head of the People In Need organisation.

"We ourselves are also living under the threat" of a Russian invasion. "You say to yourself, 'Maybe it will be us next.'"

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"Can't Assume Woman Is Subservient To Her Husband": Delhi High Court

A wife is not a mere appendage of her husband and retains her individual entity and natural right to pursue her dreams and aspirations to be financially independent or do meaningful social work, the Delhi High Court has said.

Justice Najmi Waziri, while dealing with a petition by a landlord challenging the dismissal of his plea by a lower court for eviction of his tenant, also said it cannot be assumed that the wife is subservient to her husband and is obliged to disclose to or share with her husband details of all her finances.

"A wife is neither an appendage of nor an adjunct to her husband. Her identity does not merge with or get subsumed in her husband's identity. In law, she retains her individual entity. She retains her natural right to pursue her dreams, aspirations and the desire and need to be financially independent or otherwise do some meaningful social work," observed the court in a judgment on July 7.

"There cannot be an assumption that the wife is subservient to her husband and is obliged to disclose to or share with her husband details of all her financials," Justice Waziri said.

The petitioner landlord had sought eviction of the tenant from his shop in Sadar Bazar on the ground that his two married daughters were unemployed and wished to utilise the property for their commercial aspirations.

The eviction petition was dismissed by the lower court on several grounds including that the landlord's wife ran a hotel and he did not disclose aspects of this business, and that the daughters were well settled in their matrimonial life and had never worked before.

Directing the tenant to vacate the property, the court observed, "Idle luxuriation may not be the life-goal of many a woman or to be simply known as a rich man's wife" and under the law, a tenant can be evicted on the need of landlord's dependants which includes married daughters.

"There is a certain self-worth which a person acquires by running her or his own business/commercial enterprise, vocation and professional activity. This aspiration cannot be questioned in proceedings for eviction of a tenant on the ground of bonafide requirement of the tenanted premises," the court said.

"Ordinarily, for a daughter, irrespective of her matrimonial status, her paternal/maternal home is always a psychological, physical and emotional sanctuary, a place to which she can relate and return to freely, irrespective of how far she is geographically located from her parents. The law provides for eviction of a tenant on the need of dependants. Married daughters are included among dependents of their parents, for commercial/residential space," it added.

The court further observed that the status of financial well-being of a landlord or his wife and dependent children is not the test of bonafide requirement, and what was to be seen was whether there was a suitable alternative accommodation available with the landlord for him to use or for providing the same to his daughters.

The court opined in the present case, the landlord had established a case for eviction of the tenant as it noted, "The married daughters are dependent upon their father for space to start their business in Delhi. The dependency was not pleaded on the husbands. The petition is maintainable. The daughters' need continues, so does the need of the petitioner."

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Cops Attach Gangster's Assets Worth Over Rs 17 Crore In Noida

Gautam Buddh Nagar police on Monday attached "ill-gotten properties" including houses and shops estimated to be worth over Rs 17 crore belonging to a gangster, officials said.

Gangster Amit Kasana, an active member of the Randeep Bhati gang, is involved in over three dozens cases of loot, extortion, abduction and murder, they said.

"The Gautam Buddh Nagar police commissioner (Laxmi Singh) had issued orders for attaching immovable properties belonging to Amit Kasana under provisions of Section 14 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act," Additional DCP (Greater Noida) Ashok Kumar said.

"Today, in pursuance of the orders, a two-storey house located at Ristal village in Ghaziabad worth over Rs 3 crore and a house along with some shops in Asalatpur village in Ghaziabad worth over Rs 14 crore have been attached as per legal procedures," Kumar said.

The total value of the attached immovable properties is Rs 17.23 crore, according to the police.

Section 14 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act allows for attachment of illegal properties in order to effectively curb gangsters, mafias and criminals and their associates.

Police warned of similar strict action against criminals in future for the purpose of curbing organised crime.

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