Amid Delhi’s escalating water crisis, the Kejriwal Government’s Cabinet Ministers have demanded that PM Narendra Modi, in a letter, to ensure the capital receives its full water share. They also urged Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena to visit the Wazirabad barrage with them to verify Haryana’s water supply. This plea follows a meeting at the ‘Jal Satyagraha’ protest site in Bhogal, where ministers resolved to seek the Prime Minister’s intervention and conduct a joint inspection with the LG.
Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai highlighted the urgency of PM Modi’s involvement, pointing out Haryana’s reduced supply for the severe water shortage in Wazirabad. Despite the LG’s claims that Haryana is meeting its quota, AAP leaders assert that the BJP-led Haryana government has cut Delhi’s supply by 100 MGD, leaving the Yamuna nearly dry at Wazirabad.
Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai, addressing the press conference, said that the BJP government of Haryana is stopping the rightful share of water of Delhiites. To get this rightful water of Delhiites, Delhi’s Water Minister Atishi continues her indefinite hunger strike for the fourth day. Given Prime Minister Modi’s silence on the water situation in Delhi and the continuous deterioration in the health of Water Minister Atishi, a meeting of all the ministers of Delhi was called today at the ‘Satyagraha’ site.
“In this meeting, all these circumstances were discussed and we reached two conclusions. First and foremost, the Delhi government has done many works for water management under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal. New pipelines were laid continuously. The Kejriwal government has done the work of smoothly supplying water to large areas of Delhi, especially to unauthorized colonies,” he added.
The AAP’s Delhi State Convenor stated that the entire country, especially Delhi, is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave this year. Instead of getting additional water, Delhi is not even getting the water as per the agreement, Haryana is giving 100 MGD less water. By dividing the water of rivers in the country, it was decided how much water each state would get. 30 years ago, when 1,005 MGD of water was set for Delhi every day, the population of Delhi was about 1 crore. But 30 years later, today the population of Delhi has become 3 crore, yet the same amount of water is given to Delhi. When the water demand increased further in this scorching heat, the BJP government of Haryana has stopped 100 MGD of Delhi’s 1,005 MGD water. 100 MGD of water means that today, Delhi is not getting 46 crore litres of water.
Gopal Rai said that the Delhi government knocked on the doors of the Haryana government, the Union Jal Shakti Minister, the Supreme Court and even the Prime Minister of the country regarding this matter. The Delhi Water Minister wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and told him that there is a severe water crisis in Delhi, we have tried everything possible but no solution has been found. The people of Delhi are also citizens of the country. Therefore, the Prime Minister should intervene in this, especially when there is a double-engine BJP government in Haryana, his intervention is even more necessary. But there was no response from the Prime Minister.
“Delhi’s water minister finally had to sit on a hunger strike after seeing the people of Delhi yearning for water. It has been four days since this hunger strike, but the Prime Minister is silent. He is not ready to speak on why the people of Delhi get the same amount of water today as they used to get 30 years ago, despite having three times the population. Why is the Haryana government stopping 100 MGD of water from the water they used to get? The Prime Minister has maintained silence on this,” he stated.
The senior AAP leader said that all the ministers have decided in the meeting that all the ministers of Delhi have sent a collective letter to Prime Minister Modi with their signatures that he should immediately intervene in this matter. The Monsoon is about to arrive now, last time we saw that when the water level rises, Haryana opens all the doors of Hathnikund Barrage and the people of Delhi start drowning. But today, when the people of Delhi need water, they are not even getting the full amount of water they are entitled to. Therefore, we are sending a letter to the Prime Minister on behalf of all the ministers of Delhi that he should immediately intervene in this matter and get this problem resolved so that the people of Delhi can get relief.
Announcing the second decision, Shri Gopal Gopal Rai said that on Sunday, our ministers, MPs, and MLA went to meet the LG. Even before this, Water Minister Atishi and Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had gone to meet him. On this Sunday again, all our leaders met him to resolve the water crisis in Delhi.
“The LG repeatedly says only one thing that Haryana is giving its water. Whereas the government report shows that the pond of Wazirabad has completely dried up. The water treatment plant in Wazirabad is not getting water. The amount of water that Delhi gets from the Munak canal has reduced. But still, the LG is saying that Haryana is giving sufficient water,” Gopal Rai stated.
He stated that in the ministers’ meeting, all the ministers decided that we should ask LG to go to Wazirabad pond with all the ministers at any fixed time on Tuesday so that the situation there becomes clear as to how much water is there and how much water is being received by the water treatment plant. He should also take all the officers with him because it is not known which officer is presenting a distorted report to him. Therefore, we want the LG to make a joint visit to Wazirabad pond with all the ministers.
“The register of the flow chart recorded there daily should be checked to see how much water came in the last few days, everything is on record. There is also a flow metre installed in the water coming to Bawana from Munak canal, we can go there and see that too, this will tell how much water used to come in Munak canal earlier and how much water is coming now,” he asserted.
The AAP Delhi State Convenor further said that we do not have any ill will towards anyone. Our only request to the BJP government of Haryana, the LG and the Prime Minister of the country is that if you are not increasing the water supply of the people of Delhi even after their population has increased 3 times, do not stop the water that they have been getting for 30 years. We do not have a fight with anyone. We are fighting for the rights of the people of Delhi. For this, we are writing a letter to the Prime Minister.
“Our appeal to the LG is that he should fix any time for the joint visit on Tuesday, we will go with you. We will go to the ground and check the reality of the reports that are coming to us and LG. If the water is coming less, then we want the Haryana government to give that water to Delhi, so that lakhs of people of Delhi can get relief from the water problem,” he said.
During this, Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that we are also writing a letter to the Prime Minister and are also requesting the LG to come with us and see the reality of things by seeing the ground reality.
At the same time, Cabinet Minister Kailash Gahlot said that the LG should not have any objection if we go to Munak Canal or Wazirabad pond with all the officials and see for ourselves why water is not being released? We should not rely only on the reports of the officials so that the people of Delhi get their rights and get relief from this water problem.
At the same time, Cabinet Minister Imran Hussain said that our collective appeal to LG is that more than 28 lakh people of Delhi are not getting water right now. But the LG is saying that all the water is being given from Haryana. Therefore, it is necessary to do a joint visit of Wazirabad pond, Munak canal, and all the treatment plants.
“If the LG goes to the ground with all of us ministers and sees everything himself, then everything will be clear. The records will show how much water came 10 days ago, 3 days ago or a day ago. The Prime Minister has not yet taken any cognizance of the letter of the Water Minister. Therefore, today all of us ministers are sending him a collective letter, because there is a double engine government of the BJP in Haryana. He himself lives in Delhi, so seeing the suffering of the people of Delhi, he should intervene in this matter,” he concluded.
Letter of Kejriwal Government’s ministers to the Prime Minister
Due to the severe heat this year, a huge water crisis has arisen in Delhi. Delhi has never experienced such heat in the last decade, due to which Delhiites are yearning for every drop of water. In this scorching heat, the need for water for Delhiites has also increased. At such a time, Delhi needs additional water. Delhi is completely dependent on Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for water. It is unfortunate that let alone Delhiites getting more water, we are not even getting the water allotted to us from Haryana.
The total water supply in Delhi is 1,005 MGD. A major part of this, 613 MGD water, comes from Haryana. For the last several weeks, there has been a decrease in the water coming from Haryana. For several days, Delhi has been getting 100 MGD less water. In Delhi, 1 MGD water meets the needs of approximately 28,500 people in a day. This means that 28 lakh people are not getting water due to the shortage of 100 MGD water. Where we needed additional water, 28 lakh people have stopped getting water due to less water coming from Haryana.
The Delhi government has made every possible effort to overcome the water shortage in Delhi. Wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Haryana, tried to meet the Union Water Minister. Appealed for water to the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. Himachal is ready to give additional water to Delhi, which will come to Delhi from Haryana through Yamuna. But Haryana is refusing to give us even that water. We also knocked on the door of the Supreme Court with our demands. The Supreme Court also accepted that there is a water crisis in Delhi, but despite that the Haryana government did not give 100 MGD water to the people of Delhi. We made every possible effort. Now you tell me what option is left with us after all these efforts?
It has become very important now that water should come from Haryana, otherwise there will be chaos in Delhi. Delhi needs its rightful 100 MGD of water, for which our Delhi Water Minister Atishi ji has been on hunger strike since June 21. We request you to give priority to this problem and find a solution to this crisis as soon as possible. So that the water crisis in Delhi can be resolved.
