Delhi Water Minister Atishi has written a letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat over the water crisis in the national capital seeking his immediate intervention to resolve the issue.
In her letter addressed to Shekhawat on Thursday, she said, “I am writing this letter to bring to your kind notice the unprecedented water crisis situation that the national capital of Delhi is facing at the moment. As you are aware, Delhi is heavily dependent on water from the Yamuna River to meet its day-to-day demand for water.
“However, since the last few days, there has been a drastic dip in the water levels at the Wazirabad Barrage as Haryana is not releasing the required amount of water in the Yamuna river,” she said.
She said this has resulted in a massive crisis of water in the national capital.
Referring to the soaring temperature, Atishi said, “Moreover, the temperature in Delhi has touched almost 50 degrees. This has further intensified the demand for water putting additional burden on the already strained demand-supply chain of potable drinking water in Delhi.”
“Today on a visit to Wazirabad barrage, I found that the water level at the pond was 670.3 feet as against the normal of 674.50 feet. This reduction in water level has a serious impact on the water production capacity of the water treatment plants in Delhi. If adequate water is not released by Haryana then our plants would not be able to function optimally. And if the water treatment plants do not function optimally, then Delhi will not be able to meet its demand supply gap,” she said.
Stating that this will have a serious and direct implication on the people living in the national capital, Atishi said, “I have already written to Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini ji to apprise him of the issue. However, we are yet to receive a response from his office.”
Informing that the Delhi government is making all possible efforts to encourage people to use water wisely, she said, “A multi-departmental approach is being undertaken to ensure that there is no water wastage. We have formed ground teams to take immediate action against those who are found to waste water. However, these standalone steps will not be sufficient to curtail water scarcity in the national capital.”
Citing that Delhi is the national capital of India, Atishi said, “Therefore, it is our collective responsibility as a nation to ensure that the people of Delhi get the water that they need. Therefore, I am writing to request you to ensure that some provision of water is made for NCT of Delhi, be it from Haryana or UP or any other state that may be able to spare water, so that the people of Delhi don’t suffer. We request your urgent intervention in the issue.”
She said that Haryana must immediately release Delhi’s rightful share of water into the Yamuna River to bring the waters to the normal level of 674.5 feet.