The ongoing agitation by Jats has triggered a water shortage in the national Capital as supply of raw water from Haryana’s Munak canal to seven water treatment plants has stopped, resulting in closure of six of them. To avert a crisis, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government decided to rationalise water supply from Saturday evening and also approached the Supreme Court for help.
Sixty per cent of the Capital’s water supply has been affected and the situation may deteriorate further if the agitation continues for a few more days as just around 325 Million Gallons Per Day (MGD) of potable water is being produced right now as against 820 MGD produced to meet Delhi’s demands.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal discussed the situation with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar.
“Spoke to Haryana CM. He has assured that he will immediately send the Army to ensure safety of Munak canal (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted. In another tweet, Kejriwal said, “Am worried about impact of Jat agitation on Delhi esp Delhi’s water supply. Sought time from Rajnathji”.
Kejriwal has directed the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to approach the Supreme Court immediately for a urgent hearing over the crisis as in 2011, the apex court had directed the Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to ensure supply of water and essential commodities to Delhi in the wake of a stir by Jats demanding quota in Central jobs.
Meanwhile, Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra also held an emergency meeting with DJB officials to chalk out a strategy in the wake of the looming water crisis and decided to rationalise water supply till the situation returns to normal.
“Delhi is staring at a huge water shortage in the next one or two days with 60 per cent of the water supply affected. We have decided to rationalise the supply so that people’s water demands are met. We have also set up a control room to monitor quality and quantity of the water being supplied by the DJB,” Mishra said.
Giving the reason for the disruption DJB officials said, “The agitating Jats have broken the gates of Munak canal and damaged the main supply button/panel in Haryana. Due to this, 60 per cent water supply has been affected, which will lead to a major water crisis in the national Capital. The water treatment plants at Wazirabad (131 MGD), Chandrawal (93 MGD), Haiderpur (226 MGD), Narela (40 MGD), Bawana (20 MGD) Dwarka (40 MGD) have been closed due to non-supply of raw water. The Okhla treatment plant which has a capacity of 100 MGD is partially affected,” said officials. The repair work will take at least two days.
According to officials, water would be supplied once a day from Sunday while in some areas supply was hit from Saturday evening.
Besides the VIP areas of lutyens’ Delhi, Delhi Cantonment Board, posh colonies of South Delhi, Greater Kailash, Malviya Nagar, Panchsheel Enclave, Model Town, Patel Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Raja Garden, Janak Puri, Uttam Nagar, RK Puram, Moti Bagh, Subrato Park, Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar, Hauz Khas, Anand lok, Anand Niketan, Basant lok, Defence Colony, New Friends Colony, Golf link, Jor Bagh, Chanakyapuri, Yamuna Vihar, Model Town, Karol Bagh, Rajendra Nagar, laxmi Nagar, Shakarpur, Krishna Nagar, Mayur Vihar and the adjoining areas, would be affected.