Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena will meet Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi on Monday after the latter had sought time from the former for an emergency meeting to apprise him of the “inadequate water” being released by the Haryana government from the Munak Canal.
In a post on X, Raj Niwas Delhi, the official account of the LG Secretariat, on Sunday said, “Hon’ble LG will meet Ms Atishi at 11:00 AM tomorrow. In the interim he has asked officials to ascertain the actual position of Water released by Himachal & Haryana, measures to check wastage & leakage of water in Delhi & the status of desilting of Wazirabad reservoir, as directed by SC.”
In another post on X, Raj Niwas Delhi said, “He (Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena) has further directed the officers concerned to take up the matter with Upper Yamuna River Board to ascertain the facts wrt release of water to Delhi.”
Earlier in the day, Delhi Water Minister Atishi in a post on X said, “Have sought time from the Hon’ble @LtGovDelhi for an emergency meeting, to apprise him of the inadequate water being released by Haryana from the Munak Canal.
“Delhi is supposed to receive 1050 cusecs of water from the Munak Canal via the CLC and DSB sub-canals. However, this has reduced to 840 cusecs. 7 Water Treatment Plants are dependent on this water. If the amount of water does not increase today, then the water situation across Delhi will worsen in 1-2 days.
“Hon’ble @LtGovDelhi is the representative of the Central Govt. Will be requesting him to intervene and resolve the situation.”
Meanwhile, residents of Delhi continue to face severe water crisis as long lines of people around water tankers are seen in many areas of the national capital.
With piped water being disrupted, in several areas of the city, water is being supplied to the people through tankers. Visuals from Mayur Vihar and Okhla Phase 2 show residents huddling around water tankers with buckets and cans in their hands.
Talking to reporters here on Saturday, Atishi said, “On one hand, the Supreme Court is trying to solve the water crisis in Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh is ready to give more water to Delhi. On the other hand, Haryana is blocking Delhi’s share of water.”
“Under the agreement between Haryana, Delhi, and the entire Upper Yamuna region regarding water, 1050 cusecs of water come to Delhi through the Munak Canal. Two sub-canals of the Munak Canal supply water here. It is measured by the flow meter installed here. If we look at the data from the last five years, out of the 1,050 cusecs of water released by Haryana, 1000 to 980 cusecs of water reach Delhi. But for the last five days, this amount of water has been continuously decreasing. At least 1,000 cusecs of water should reach Delhi, but since June 1, it has decreased a lot. On June 7, only 840 cusecs of water reached Delhi,” she added.
For many residents in the city, their daily lives are being disrupted because of the water crisis.
Ambati, a resident of Delhi’s Geeta Colony, told a news agency that she has to face a lot of trouble fetching water from the tankers.
“We have to face a lot of trouble. We get only one tanker, from which we have to fetch water. We have no other option, though,” she said.
Another resident of Geeta Colony, Ghanshyam Jha, said, “We have to face the water crisis daily. We have to bear a lot of trouble while getting water from tankers. Sometimes, we skip work due to this. One tanker doesn’t seem to be enough for the entire population of this colony, but anyway, we only get one.”