The Supreme Court, on June 12, directed the Delhi government to file an affidavit on the measures it had taken to prevent water wastage amidst acute water crisis during the ongoing heat wave.
The court directed that the affidavit be filed by today, the case is now likely to come up for hearing on June 13
A vacation bench of justices Prashan Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale questioned Delhi government on the measures it had taken to prevent the loss of water more specifically due to tanker mafia. The Delhi government's lawyer assured that all the tankers supplying water are operated by Delhi Jal board.
The court also noted that Himachal Pradesh had made a misleading statement that they had an excess of 137 cusecs of water to be supplied to Delhi while they may not actually have the same. The court directed the officer who had drawn up the report on excess water available with Himachal to be present in the court tomorrow. However, these observations were not recorded in the order for want of more clarity on Himachal's stand.
"Why has the chief secretary (of Himachal) not filed the affidavit? Where is Himachal Pradesh.. you submit that they have excess water and now they say they have already given it meaning nothing excess. The entire basis of the plea is that HP has excess water that is 137 cusecs," the court noted.
On June 6, directed Himachal Pradesh to release the 137 cusecs surplus water to Delhi to ease the water crisis in the national capital, describing it as an “existential problem”.
A vacation bench of the court said, "We direct Himachal Pradesh to supply 137 cusecs of surplus water available." It also directed Haryana to facilitate the flow of surplus water to Hathnikund barrage and to Wazirabad in Delhi.
Himachal has been directed to be release the water on June 7 and inform Haryana in advance. The Upper Yamuna River Board has been directed to measure the water that comes from Hathnikund, which is in Haryana's Yamuna Nagar and also borders Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
During the hearing, the Himachal government told the court it had surplus water and was ready to share it.
Haryana argued that there was no means to verify if the water was actually released by Himachal as it would have to pass through the state. The state sought for time to analyse the data provided by Himachal on availability of water.
The court, however, said Delhi's water crisis was an existential problem.
The court had on June 3 ordered the Upper Yamuna River Board to call for an urgent meeting to discuss the capital’s water crisis.
Delhi's water woes:
The Delhi government told the court that demand for water had risen significantly amid the heatwave conditions.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also urged the BJP to ask its governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to provide water to the national capital for a month.
Built on the Yamuna river, the Hathnikund barrage, which is around 200km from Delhi, is controlled by the Haryana government.
Water from the barrage is released in three directions. While the Eastern Yamuna Canal carries water to UP for irrigation, the Western Yamuna Canal takes water to different parts of Haryana for irrigation. Some of the water is also diverted to treatment plants in Delhi to meet the city’s drinking water demand. It takes two to three days for the water to reach Delhi.
The remaining water is left in the Yamuna.
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