Officials Visit Treatment Plants, Say Haryana Releasing Sufficient Water

As the city grappled on Friday with a heatwave and a power demand that broke all records, residents of a village in Alipur damaged two low-floor DTC buses and some private vehicles in protest again

Delhi has been accusing Haryana of curtailing its water supply, Haryana is adamant that Delhi is getting its full share, both have offered their records as proof to back their respective claims, but the Upper Yamuna River Board, which has been asked to verify these records, has turned to the Central Water Commission to investigate and come out with the truth.

Part of the Union Water Resources Ministry, UYRB's mandate is to regulate the water sharing agreement of allocated water between the riparian States of the Yamuna. Unable to break the deadlock between the two States, the UYRB has now decided to rope in the Central Water Commission.

The water problem in the city is expected to worsen with the level at the Wazirabad pond dipping two feet below its optimum level on Wednesday.

“Put in extra efforts during next two-three months so that no tangible complaint is received”

Consumers who fall within the Delhi Jal Board's service area and are in the billing net should get water for least an hour-and-a-half every day, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit instructed the water utility on Wednesday. Ms. Dikshit, who is also the Chairperson of the Board, chaired a meeting of the DJB officials, issuing terse instructions to improve the service and focus on equitable distribution of water.

New Delhi: Ruma Roy has spent Rs 6,000 on purchasing water from private tankers in the past one month and a half.

“Delhi Jal Board is yet to implement equitable distribution”

“Nobody cares… we just keep getting lame excuses,” says V.K. Arora as he bemoans the daily struggle for water faced by residents of South Delhi's Kailash Hills. At the tail end of the supply chain, residents here have to depend mainly on private water tankers and some stealthily-dug bore wells. In East Delhi's Ram Nagar Extension, residents recently received water mixed with sewage that smelt foul, looked bad and was absolutely unfit for consumption.

With Delhi reeling under acute shortage of water, chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday sought an early solution to the Munak canal dispute with Haryana and said she would seek Prime Minister’s intervention on the matter.

The comments by Ms Dikshit came a day after Haryana turned down Delhi government’s request to provide additional water to the national capital to overcome the water crisis in the city.

Talks On, No Commitment To Increase Supply

The water crisis in the city is likely to continue as Delhi government’s efforts to get more water from neighbouring Haryana did not fructify.

At a meeting here, Delhi chief secretary P.K. Tripathi asked his Haryana counterpart P.K. Chaudhery to release more water to Delhi but the latter turned down the request saying his state was also facing shortage. Mr Tripathi later said that both sides agreed to improve coordination in matters relating to withdrawal of water by Delhi from Yamuna barrage for Wazirabad and Hedayatpur water treatment plants.