Senior AAP leader and Delhi Water Minister Atishi on Friday said water production in the national Capital is decreasing continuously as less water is reaching the Yamuna river. Meanwhile, two tankers were seized for allegedly stealing water from the Munak canal by the Delhi Police.
The AAP dispensation has been alleging that Haryana has not been releasing Delhi's share of water while the BJP is attacking the ruling party for not taking any action against the ‘tanker mafia’. "Due to less water reaching Yamuna, water production in Delhi is continuously decreasing. Under normal circumstances, 1005 MGD of water is produced in Delhi, but it has been continuously decreasing since last one week. Due to reduced production, there is water shortage in many parts of Delhi. Everyone is requested to use water very economically," she said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) in Hindi.
Sharing figures, the minister said the water production on June 6 was 1,002 million gallons per day (MGD) which declined to 993 MGD the next day and 990 MGD on June 8. It was 978 MGD on June 9 and 958 MGD the next day. On June 11, June 12 and June 13, it stood at 919 MGD, 951 MGD and 939 MGD respectively, the minister added.
Further, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh slammed the BJP and its seven MPs in Delhi for not giving Delhi its rightful water. “The people of Delhi have elected all the seven BJP MPs. Even after this, the BJP government of Haryana is punishing Delhiites. In such a scorching heat, the BJP government of Haryana is taking out its enmity with us by stopping Delhi’s rightful water. I want to tell all the seven BJP MPs that they should appeal to the Haryana and Central governments to provide water to Delhi and meet the LG, but he is missing,” he said, asking the Haryana government to take out its enmity with us but not trouble the people of Delhi.
Additionally, the seizure of the tankers from the canal area comes a day after police began patrolling the canal area to check the activities of the tanker mafia as the water crisis in Delhi worsened. "We have seized two water tankers for stealing water from the canal. One tanker was seized from 'kacchi sadar' near an agricultural field and the other from D-Block, DSIIDC. We have registered two cases under the Environment Protection Act at Bawana and NIA police stations," a senior police officer said.
The officer said 56 police personnel are guarding the canal in shifts. According to officials, police teams have set up pickets and are patrolling the 15-kilometre stretch of the canal on the Haryana borders.
The canal enters Delhi from Bawana and reaches the Haiderpur treatment plant. Teams from Bawana, Narela Industrial Area, Shahbad Dairy and Samaypur Badli police stations have been tasked with patrolling the canal and the nearby areas.
