Indian Express 24.02.2010
No worry on water-front: Sheila
Geeta Gupta Tags : water, delhi Posted: Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010 at 0057 hrs
New Delhi: While the Haryana government refuses to give Delhi its share of 80 million gallons of water saved each day once the Munak Canal gets operational, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit maintains there is little to worry.The ball is now in the Prime Minister’s court and Delhi holds a strong case for itself, she told Newsline on Tuesday.
“I have spoken to the Prime Minister,” Dikshit said, “and he has asked me and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to get together and resolve the issue. If the canal was constructed at Haryana’s suggestion to save water (with Delhi paying the entire project cost), we have a strong case.
I am sure the Haryana chief minister would understand.”
Delhi has spent more than Rs 315 crore for construction of the canal, now in its final stages. The canal between Munak in Haryana and Wazirabad in Delhi would help save water, and as per plans Delhi would get the additional quantum.
The flow of water through the regular canal could not be controlled and a lot of water was going waste,” Dikshit said. “The Munak Canal project was taken up at the suggestion of then Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. While the construction was to be taken up by Haryana, the entire cost was to be borne by the Delhi government.”
But even as construction on the concrete channel is nearing completion, Haryana refuses to give Delhi the additional water that would be saved by channelising through this canal.
The concrete canal is expected to prevent loss of water through seepage along the Western Yamuna Canal — the present 30 per cent loss of water is expected to come down to about 5 per cent once the canal is operational. Once completed, it is expected to increase Delhi’s raw water supply by 80 million gallons a day (MGD) to run its three water treatment plants: the 20-MGD Okhla Water Treatment Plant, the 20-MGD Bawana plant, and the 50-MGD treatment plant at Dwarka.
Jal Board Member (Water Supply) R K Garg told Newsline that of the 80 MGD that would be saved, 43 MGD would be from the Ravi-Beas waters, which merely cross Haryana on route to Delhi.
“Only 37 MGD of this 80 MGD water is what would actually be coming from the Yamuna River in Haryana,” Garg said.
