Sheila seeks PM’s help over water woes

Senior officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said Dikshit called on Singh in the afternoon.

“The water situation in Delhi is manageable for now,but with the onset of summers there is a possibility that we might face a shortage with the increase in demand. We are not getting our due share of water from neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh,” a senior official said.

The official said the issue would be sorted only with the Central government’s intervention.

Sources in the government said that Dikshit spoke about water supply problems with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. While Haryana was to provide an additional 80 million gallons per day (mgd) of water through the Munak Canal,the UP government has reduced water supply to the Sonia Vihar water treatment as well.

According to the CMO,Dikshit requested the PM to constitute a new GoM to resolve Delhi’s water woes.

Incidentally,two years ago,a GoM had directed that the dispute be taken up with the Upper Yamuna River Board. A senior official said,“Another GoM is needed to resolve the existing disputes,particularly over the 80 mgd of water due from Haryana.”

The Delhi government had funded the construction of the Rs 400 crore Munak canal. Following the commissioning of the project the Haryana government had agreed to supply at least 80 mgd water to Delhi,but reneged claiming they faced a water crisis.

It is through this canal that Delhi receives the bulk of its water supply from Haryana. The reduction in water supply has halted three major water treatment plants in Delhi.

At present,Delhi’s average demand of water is around 1,100 mgd and the Delhi Jal Board supplies around 800 mgd water after treating raw water in its treatment plants. The demand is projected to touch around 1,400 mgd by 2017.