Munak channel on fast track,DJB sanctions Rs 50 cr

A Project that could have taken a few more years to be resolved due to the inter-state water sharing dispute between Delhi and Haryana

A Project that could have taken a few more years to be resolved due to the inter-state water sharing dispute between Delhi and Haryana,the Munak carrier-line channel,is finally on the fast track. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has sanctioned Rs 50 crore as payment to Haryana immediately,against a final demand of Rs 150 crore put up by the neighbouring state as the last installment for the project.

Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal,who is also a part of the Group of Ministers (GoM) that presided over the issue,told Newsline: It is good news that both states have mutually agreed on the issue. It is,in fact,an agreement between the two states than a decision imposed by the GoM. Haryana has agreed to continue giving Delhi 610 cusecs after losses,and Delhi has agreed to pay them Rs 50 crore immediately. The last installment was held back earlier due to the ongoing issue.

Bansal said Haryana had become suspicious of Delhis plans after a puncture was noticed in the carrier-line channels path near Haiderpur in Delhi. The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for Haryana to keep the water ponds at Haiderpur and Wazirabad full. The puncture on the line near Delhi aroused suspicions that Delhi may be trying to siphon water before it could reach Haiderpur,and that Haryana would end up giving much more water to Delhi to keep their water ponds full. But those issues have been resolved now, Bansal said.

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DJB CEO Ramesh Negi said the puncture is actually the point in the channel from where the utility needs to pump water to supply it to the three water treatment plants (WTP),which would be made functional once more water reaches Delhi. A pumping station is being constructed in Wazirabad to lift water from Munak for the Okhla WTP. A similar provision is being made in Iradatnagar and Narela,to supply water for the Dwarka and Bawana WTPs, Negi said.

Meanwhile,DJB officials said about 100 metres of the Munak canal,which falls in Delhis jurisdiction,remains to be completed. Work would be completed within a month,they added.

It should take a maximum of two months to commission the canal now, an official said.

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