NEW DELHI: Admitting that the Delhi Government had no "legal document'' to sustain its claim for 300 cusecs of water for the controversial 140 Million-Gallons-A-Day Sonia Vihar water treatment plant, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday accused the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of acting in a stubborn manner and playing politics over the water issue when a large percentage of the Capital's population belonged to Uttar Pradesh.

Interestingly, Ms. Dikshit also admitted on the floor of the Delhi Assembly that the Delhi Government was paying Rs. 12 lakhs per month for maintenance and as penalty to the multinational company Degremond for the Sonia Vihar plant that is yet to become operational.

Replying to a spate of questions on the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant and release of raw water to Delhi, the Chief Minister refused to clearly spell out whether the Government would go to the Supreme Court on the issue against the Uttar Pradesh Government. "We are exploring all possible avenues for resolution of the problem. We have talked to Uttar Pradesh and even the Union Ministry of Water Resources, which has agreed to plead our case. We are still hopeful but Mr. Yadav is acting in a stubborn manner. Unfortunately, politics has taken precedence over water despite the fact that a majority of the population migrating to Delhi is from Uttar Pradesh,'' Ms. Dikshit told the House.

Not only the Opposition but even the Congress legislators cornered the Chief Minister on the issue that took a major part of the Question Hour.

Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Mukhi sought to know from the Chief Minister if a written agreement existed between the Delhi Government and the U.P. Government on the issue. He said his information was that no such agreement existed and that was the reason why Delhi was unable to pursue the matter legally. To this, Ms. Dikshit acknowledged that no written agreement existed between the two Governments and it was all a matter of trust. There was some kind of written undertaking in 1998 by the Union Power Ministry for the Tehri Dam project from which Delhi would get around 300 cusecs of water.

To a query by Mr. Bhisham Sharma (Congress) about the legal position on the issue, Ms. Dikshit said nothing final had been decided about this yet.

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