Delhi Jal Board Chairman and Water Minister of Delhi Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj asked the Delhi LG to take cognisance of illegal sand mining in Haryana. The Delhi LG had recently raised concern on the situation of the Wazirabad WTP. Upon this the DJB Chairman apprised the LG of how illegal sand mining in Haryana has been blocking the supply of Yamuna water towards Delhi and Haryana is instead releasing industrial wastewater towards Delhi. Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj further invited the Hon’ble LG on a joint inspection of these illegal Sand Mining blocks in Haryana, stating, “People of Delhi feel extremely sad that Hon’ble LG is playing dirty politics over sensitive issue of water supply in Delhi. Either he is unaware of the facts or he is deliberately doing cheap politics. The issue raised by him is due to the inefficiency and inaction of Haryana Govt because of which the people of Delhi are suffering. Hon’ble LG is trying to pass the buck of BJP ruled Haryana’ Govts fault on Delhi Government.”
Shei Saurabh Bhardwaj while serving as the DJB VC last week, had visited Wazirabad WTP and pond along with media persons to show reduced level of water in the wazirabad pond. To achieve full production from Wazirabad and Chandrawal WTP, wazirabad pond level should be 674.5 feet. From last few weeks wazirabad pond level has touched bottom level of the pond at 671.4 feet. This has adversely affected production of WTPs at Chandrawal and Wazirabad. Latest production of Chandrawal is 90 MGD against normal production of 100 MGD while Wazirabad is producing 90 MGD against usual production of 135 MGD. This shortage has impacted water supply in all over Delhi as raw water is being diverted from other shares of WTPs like Haiderpur, Dwarka, Nangloi and Okhla. The water which is accumulated in Wazirabad pond is nothing but Industrial waste from Haryana drains. The accumulated water is not useful for any purpose due to very high levels of pollutants, especially ammonia. Even Deepening of Wazirabad pond cannot solve the issue of contamination because it would increase chances of contamination of groundwater aquifer. Wazirabad and Chandrawal WTPs have been receiving contaminated water for the past many years due to which mechanical equipment is getting corroded frequently. During the presentation, Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj also showed how rampant mining is going on in the upstream stretch of River Yamuna due to which clean water released from Hathnikund and Tajewala is not reaching the stretch of Delhi. This is majorly due to construction of bunds across the river and deep pits right in the river bed and floodplains. Only water received in the Wazirabad pond is toxic industrial waste from Drain no. 2 and Drain No.8. To divert attention from the real issue of mining and deliberate release of contamination by Haryana, distractions are being created by the Haryana Govt. and office of LG.
Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj stated, “Visit of LG is a welcome step but being a Nominee of the same political party’s Central Govt, it is requested that matters should be taken up with BJP run Haryana Govt by him. His help is also required to increase allocation of water for the share of Delhi from Hathnikund and Tajewala as the population of Delhi has increased 2.5 Times since last allocation. Currently Delhi is getting based on allocation done by Central govt in 1995-1996. Delhi Jal Board has already made several requests to the Central govt to increase allocation of Delhi being capital of India.”
“Delhi is the Capital of India and due to this crisis areas prominent areas including areas of VVIPs like NDMC, Parliament, and even president House are severely affected. People of Delhi have to even curtain the use for Holi which have severely affected their religious sentiments as well. This is the matter of shame that politics is done on this crucial of water. As constitutional post holders it is our joint responsibility to ensure delivery of clean water to the public of Delhi. Delhi Govt hence proposes to have joint visit of complete stretch of Yamuna from Delhi Border to Tajewala Along with LG and CM of Haryana to show specific evidence of mining of pollution dumping,” he added.
Notably, Delhi Jal Board has been producing more than 990 MGD of water consistently from the last many months. However, since 23rd Feb flow has been stopped and ammonia levels have spiked very high thereby production has been declining consistently. LG is requested to take up the matter on priority with the Haryana Govt, UVRY and the Minister of Jal Shakti.
