Summer approaching,ask Haryana to release water: Sheila to Centre

With several such letters to the Centre,including one to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,in the past proving futile,Dikshit asserted that the government would now concentrate on conserving and recycling water.

“I have written to the Centre so often with the same request,but to little avail. As per our agreements,Haryana is supposed to supply an additional 80 million gallons of water daily (mgd),which they have thus far flatly refused,” Dikshit said. Last year,she said,she had even taken up the issue with the PM.

According to Dikshit,the water situation in Delhi is stable,but could decline. “The summer is approaching and Delhi’s population increases by about five lakh every year,so the demand for water obviously will rise. With no real resolution to the dispute,we have decided to concentrate on conserving and recycling water instead,” she said.

The dispute between the two states revolves around the newly built Munak Canal — a 102-km lined canal built to save water lost en route from Haryana through leakages. The Rs 414-crore canal,which runs through both states,was built by Haryana but entirely funded by Delhi.

“We were to get an additional 80 mgd of water once the canal was completed. However,the Haryana government maintains that the 80 mgd is part of what Delhi receives,” Dikshit said.

Senior Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said the three water treatment plants — Dwarka,Okhla and Bawana,built at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore — were rendered idle without the additional 80 mgd of water. “We built these treatment plants keeping in mind increased water supply from Haryana,but they are all unused at present,” a senior DJB official said.

Sources in the DJB also said the agreed allocation between the two states was 490 mgd. “At present Haryana supplies 410 mgd to Delhi,which is treated at the Hyderpur and Wazirabad treatment plants. They were supposed to supply the 80 mgd saved through the Munak Canal as well,” an official said.