Haryana releases Delhi’s ‘legitimate share’ of water

New Delhi: Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Raghav Chadha on Tuesday announced that Haryana had released 16,000 cusecs of water into Yamuna River, bringing an end to the inter-state water dispute. He said that the Supreme Court was approached by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and, after several discussions between officials of the two states, Haryana finally released Delhi’s “legitimate share” of water.

“The Haryana government on Tuesday released 16,000 cusecs of water which will reach Delhi in three days. After this, the water crisis in the capital will be resolve and people will get clean drinking water,” Chadha said. “We tried to build pressure on the Haryana government. We even filed a petition in the SC and held several rounds of talks with the officials of the neighboring state.”

On Monday, 12 July, members of the BJP who were protesting in front of the residence of Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain were granted the water they were so vigorously demanding in the form of a highly pressurized stream from a water cannon, courtesy of the Delhi Police. Despite there being no injuries or damages caused, the act of using water cannons in the midst of a dire water shortage received a lot of criticism from opposition parties and caused an outcry across the capital. A large number of Delhi residents have also taken to social media, criticizing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the lack of drinking water, with some areas reportedly receiving sewage water instead of drinking water.

The current dispute between the Delhi Jal Board and the Haryana government began last week, with the DJB claiming that Haryana was withholding 120 MGD (million gallons a Day) of water which was Delhi’s “legitimate share” as per the 1996 Supreme Court Ruling. The Haryana Government responded to the allegations on Tuesday, with CM Manohar Lal Khattar stating that Haryana Govt. did not withhold even “one drop” of water from Delhi despite having higher demand than Delhi.