Haryana, Delhi's SOS Back-And-Forth On Water Sharing

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday asked the Delhi's AAP government not to indulge in "petty politics" over the water sharing issue, saying if it wants more water then it should ask Punjab to release his state's "legitimate share".

Punjab is ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which stormed to power in this year's Assembly polls.

A few days ago, the Delhi government had sent an SOS to Haryana, urging it to release additional water in the Yamuna river to prevent a crisis in the national capital.

Mr Khattar said Haryana has been adhering to the water-sharing arrangement with Delhi and releasing more than 1,049 cusecs of Yamuna water every day. "We cannot deprive Haryana of its water and give Delhi more than their legitimate share," he said.

"Instead of doing petty politics on the water issue, the Delhi government should convince the Punjab government to release Haryana's legitimate share of water at the earliest. I promise that the day Punjab will give our share, Haryana will increase Delhi's current water share," said Mr Khattar here.

Mr Khattar said whenever the Delhi Jal Board approached the court, it has always been proved that Haryana is releasing more than 1049 cusecs of water from the Munak headworks against their share of 719 cusecs.

"Haryana has been supplying water to Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant, Nangloi Water Treatment Plant and Wazirabad/Chandrawal Water Treatment Plant in Delhi," said the CM.

He said on February 29, 1996, the Supreme Court had directed Haryana to provide an additional 330 cusecs of water per day to Delhi.

Earlier, the Delhi's share in water was 719 cusecs per day. In compliance with these orders, Delhi is being given 1,049 cusecs of water every day.

The Delhi government is now lying about the water issue, which is very unfortunate, said Khattar "The Delhi government should understand that it is not the responsibility of Haryana alone to meet their drinking water requirement. Like us, they too can also plan on formulating water management schemes," said the CM.

On the power situation, Mr Khattar said the state in the past a few days faced power shortage of up to 1,800 MW. This was due to non-availability of power from multiple sources, he said.

The electricity consumption has increased this year as compared with last year. At present the demand for electricity is 700 to 800 lakh units more than last year.

Also, presently the maximum demand of the state has reached 9,874 MW while the power supply is also 9,874 MW. "Since May 16, we have been able to supply electricity equal to the consumption," said Khattar.

He said Haryana has also started getting 600 MW of power from Adani power. By May 30, additional 600 MW power is likely to be available from Khedar Unit 2, he said.

"There is also a plan to set up power plants outside the state. Besides, various power saving measures have also been adopted by the state," said Khattar.

Mr Khattar also launched a new portal, "e-Fasal Kshatipoorti".

Mr Khattar said through this portal, the compensation amount will be deposited directly into the verified account of the farmer on "Meri Fasal-Mera Byora" scheme.

He said compensation will be given for crop loss due to fire, flood, hailstorm, drought, cold wave, earthquake, landslide, cloudburst, water-logging, heavy rain, insect attack and dust storm. Mr Khattar also said the schools from Classes I to XII running in one building across the state will be merged.

"Teachers of these schools will also be rationalised," he said. With this, the shortage of teachers will be overcome, he said.