New Delhi:
Severe water crisis in the capital is likely to continue as Delhi government's efforts to get additional water from neighbouring Haryana to ease the worsening situation did not yield any result.
Several areas of Delhi have been facing severe water shortage for the last few weeks. The situation has deteriorated further in South Delhi on Saturday when a major pipeline broke down after an under-construction building fell on it.
In a meeting yesterday, Delhi Chief Secretary PK Tripathi had asked his Haryana counterpart PK Chaudhery to release more water to Delhi to address the problem of water shortage. Sources said Mr Tripathi requested Mr Chaudhery to provide additional water to Delhi apart from daily supply of 1,000 cusecs but the Haryana Chief Secretary turned down the request, saying his state was also facing the same situation.
Haryana accuses Delhi of drawing more water than the allotted quantity from the Yamuna barrage for Haiderpur and Wazirabad water treatment plants while Delhi has charged the neighbouring state with not releasing the agreed volume of water. Asked whether the unresolved dispute between the two states on Munak canal issue figured in the meeting, Mr Tripathi said the matter will be discussed at the political level. As both sides failed to settle the dispute, the Centre had set up a Group of Ministers to find a solution to the matter.
The canal was constructed by Haryana with financial assistance of around Rs 400 crore given by Delhi government on the condition that the national capital will be supplied 80 MGD water from it. But later, Haryana refused to supply the water to the city.
Delhi, which relies heavily on neighbouring states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for supply of raw water, has a current average demand of potable water of around 1,100 mgd (million gallons per day). Currently Delhi Jal Board supplies around 800 mgd water across the city after treating raw water in its treatment plants. The demand is projected to touch around 1,400 mgd by end of the 12th Five Year Plan in 2017.