The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi government to list action taken to control the wastage of water as the national capital faces a water crisis. The Delhi government – which had moved the top court seeking directions to Haryana to release its share of water – has been told to file an affidavit by Thursday.
The BJP has accused the AAP of “lying” and fomenting the crisis by mishandling resources and demanded answers from its two most prominent faces – Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj.
The AAP, meanwhile, has counter-attacked by alleging the BJP government in Haryana continues to not release the city’s share of water despite claiming to do so, and has also fired shots at the Lt Governor.
On Tuesday Atishi, once again accused the Haryana government of deliberately and illegally halting the water supply to the national capital.
Citing an affidavit submitted by the Haryana government to the court, she said, “The Haryana government has been lying about releasing adequate water. Their affidavit presents data on actual discharge of water… which has exposed their lie.” She also slammed Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for blaming Delhi’s AAP government for non-maintenance of water canals and theft of water supply.
READ | Delhi’s Water Crisis Continues, BJP And AAP Accuse Each Other Of Lying
Tuesday’s episode of the ‘water war’ broke after Mr Saxena’s social media post, which said he had spoken to Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and received assurances his government had released water – in quantities required by law – to Delhi. “… water is being provided to Delhi as per allocated share…,” he wrote, saying Haryana had done so “despite the state’s own constraints…”
That prompted the Delhi BJP unit – with one eye on next year’s Assembly election and a chance at a revival in the city after abysmal results in the last two – to attack the AAP.
On Monday Mr Saxena met Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj and promised to speak to the Haryana government. He also ticked off the AAP for playing “blame games” at this time.
For now, the court has ordered Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of water – approx. 28.3 litres of water flow per second – to reach Delhi’s Hathnikund barrage.
However, the route requires the Haryana government’s cooperation, which the AAP claims is lacking. The Supreme Court last week directed the Haryana government to allow the water through “without hindrance so people of Delhi get drinking water”.
NDTV Explains | Delhi-Haryana Squabble Over Water Supply In Brutal Summer
Delhi relies on Haryana, Himachal, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh for more than 90 per cent of its drinking water supply, and around 40 per cent of this comes from four places, including the Yamuna River, which is the source of the dispute with Haryana.
Conservative estimates say Delhi needs 1,300 million gallons per day, or MGD, of which the Delhi Jal board produces only an estimated 1,000 MGD.
With input from ANI
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