The Hindu : New Delhi News : Haryana accuses Delhi of stealing water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Haryana accuses Delhi of stealing water

By Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI, MARCH 5. Strained relations between Delhi and Haryana over sharing of the Yamuna water have once again reached a flashpoint with the latter accusing its neighbour of stealing water for flushing and operating its ambitious 140 MGD Sonia Vihar water treatment plant besides constructing a pump house in the "river area" in violation of norms.

The Haryana Government's Irrigation Department has filed a complaint with the Upper Yamuna River Board, a body formed to settle water disputes between Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, alleging that the Delhi Jal Board had illegally constructed a canal near the Wazirabad barrage to divert the Yamuna water to a near-by pump house for flushing its Sonia Vihar plant, a charge which has been denied by the Delhi Jal Board.

Haryana's Irrigation Department officials have alleged that a 50-metre long and four-metre wide canal had been constructed near the Wazirabad barrage through which the Yamuna water was being diverted to a nearby pump house. According to a court order, Haryana, which releases 425-cusec of water into the Yamuna everyday, was supposed to maintain the water level of the Wazirabad pond at 674.5 feet for supplying raw water to its Chandrawal and Wazirabad treatment plants.

However, due to this illegal diversion of water, the onus of maintaining the pond level no longer lies with Haryana, a Haryana official said. He alleged that all this was being done to supply raw water to the Sonia Vihar plant as from mid-March, the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, which is daily supplying 85 cusec raw water from the Upper Ganga Canal near Muradnagar, would stop providing raw water to the plant and then this illegally constructed canal would be used to divert water from the Yamuna to the Sonia Vihar plant.

Interestingly, according to the agreement signed between the Delhi Government and Suez (Ondeo, Degremont), the French multinational responsible for operation of the Sonia Vihar plant, the Delhi Jal Board will have to pay Rs.50,000 per day to the company if it failed to supply raw water to the plant from March 15. "It is to avoid this penalty, as there is no chance of getting raw water from the Tehri dam reservoir in Uttaranchal in the near future, that the DJB is engaging in such illegal practices," the official alleged.

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