Delhi Water Minister Atishi said on Monday that Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena assured that he would take up with the Haryana government the released of water in Munak Canal to ensure adequate water supply to the national capital.

Atishi, along with Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, attended a meeting on the water issue, in the presence of the LG and the chief secretary and CEO (Delhi Jal Board).

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Apart from the water to be release from Munak Canal, the LG assured that the issue of staffing at the DJB and additional burden on the CEO (DJB) would be addressed suitably at the earliest.

According to official sources, Saxena also underlined that if the wastage of water in Munak is plugged, which is said to be to the tune of 25 per cent due to theft and other repair issues, it would help resolve the water crisis.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the Delhi water minister said the LG assured that he would appoint a single charge officer for the Delhi Jal Board administration to ensure work goes on smoothly in the water agency of the city.

It has been brought to the notice of the LG and the ministers that a team of Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) officials, along with senior officials from GNCTD and Government of Haryana, inspected the supply of water at the head of Munak Canal in Delhi on Sunday evening, who have claimed that they found water supply from Haryana to be sufficient, officials said.

As per the inspection report, Haryana on Sunday released 2,289 cusec of water from Munak Canal in the state and the quantity of water released from Munak to Kakori for supply exclusively to Delhi was 1,161.084 cusec against its quota of 1,050 cusec of water.

However, the water received from Munak Canal at Bawana in Delhi was 960.78 cusec, amounting to a loss of 200 cusec, which is 18 per cent.

As per accepted norms, such losses should be less than 5 per cent.

One of the issues raised during the meeting was that of transit. A huge quantity of water in Munak is lost and stolen due to non-maintenance of the canal during its course in Delhi due to leakages because of non-repair of the lining of the canal and the alleged theft by tankers.

The issue of 54 per cent unaccounted water and 40 per cent leakage in Delhi due to theft and unrepaired pipelines was again flagged by the LG and it was agreed by the Minister that a concrete plan of action for addressing this issue will soon be prepared by DJB.