The Aam Aadmi Party has condemned the BJP-led Haryana Government for stopping additional water supply of 137 cusecs being given to Delhi by the Himachal Pradesh as per the Supreme Court order as also reducing the supply of 200 cusecs of water to Delhi through other sources.
Addressing the media here today, senior AAP leader and chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said Delhi belongs to all, it accepts all. People come here from all over the country for good education, good treatment and excellent job opportunities. And in return, the BJP stops the right to water of 3 crore people of Delhi. “But Shri Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party will ensure that Delhiites get their rights. We will fight everywhere from the streets to the Supreme Court and the BJP’s negative politics will fail in Delhi once again,” she said.
Giving details of the steps taken by the AAP in resolving the water crisis, Priyanka Kakkar said on May 31, 2024 the Delhi government went to the Supreme Court and told that due to an unexpected heat wave, Delhi’s water requirement has increased. In the Supreme Court, the Delhi government also told that before reaching the Supreme Court the matter was discussed with the Himachal Pradesh government and it was found out that the Himachal Pradesh government has 137 cusecs of additional drinking water, which it is ready to give to Delhi. “So, in the Supreme Court, we demanded that Haryana should allow this water to come to Delhi because Himachal Pradesh is not adjacent to Delhi, the water should be released from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi from Haryana’s Hathni Kund Barrage and reach Delhi’s Wazirabad Barrage,” she said.
The AAP chief spokesperson said secondly, we also told that this time the monsoon season is delayed, it is expected from June 30, 2024, due to which this arrangement was needed for a short time only. “So, the Supreme Court gave an order on June 3, 2024 in which a meeting of all stakeholders was held. After that meeting, on June 6, the Supreme Court said that the Himachal Pradesh government is ready to give 137 cusecs of additional water to Delhi and the BJP’s Haryana government should allow this water to come to Delhi without any obstruction, via Hathni Kund Barrage to Wazirabad Barrage. This was the only demand,” she said.
Reading out paragraph 10 of June 6, 2024 Supreme Court order, she said the Supreme Court says, “The breakup of surplus water available with the state of Himachal Pradesh is provided in the document according to which between the period from March 2024 to June 2024, 137 cusecs of surplus water is available with the state of Himachal Pradesh. Since the state of Himachal Pradesh has no objection and is ready and willing to release the surplus drinking water available with it, we direct that the state of Himachal Pradesh shall release 137 cusecs of surplus drinking water available with it from the upstream so that the water reaches Hathni Kund barrage and reaches Delhi through Wazirabad. As and when the surplus drinking water is released with prior information/intimation to the state of Haryana by the state of Himachal Pradesh, the state of Haryana shall facilitate the flow of surplus drinking water so released by Himachal Pradesh to Hathni Kund barrage and to Wazirabad so that the water reaches Delhi uninterruptedly and is made available to the citizens of Delhi for meeting drinking water requirement.”
The AAP chief spokesperson said only this much was to be done by the BJP’s Haryana government to allow water from the Hathni Kund Barrage to Delhi. But what does the BJP government of Haryana do? This 137 cusecs water was supposed to come from Himachal, they stop it and also reduce 200 cusecs more out of the 1050 cusecs of water that comes to Delhi from another channel. The result of this negative politics is that the BJP’s power in Haryana has been halved, and it (BJP) will wiped out soon.
Priyanka Kakkar said the people of Haryana are so generous that if you ask them for a glass of water, they will give you lassi along with it. But this negative BJP government of Haryana is stopping the water coming from Himachal and also stopping our water from another channel. What is this arrogance about water, water belongs to everyone, she added.
Giving an example of how water is distributed among the states, the senior AAP leader said the main sources of water in North India are Chenab, Jhelum, Indus, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej rivers. Water from these rivers go to the whole of North India. How is this water distributed? There is the Upper Yamuna River Board over them. That board involves all the stakeholders of each state such as ministers, senior officers, administrative representatives who tell how much water is required by their state. After that the board distributes this water according to their requirement. Now they have their channels of distribution like Hathni Kund Barrage, water has to come to Delhi, it has to come to Wazirabad. The BJP has a problem with this also, she added.
Criticising the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for not standing up for the cause of Delhiites, the AAP chief spokesperson said the LG says that Delhi government is accusing Haryana government without any reason. “Does he not know about the order of the Supreme Court? He should have understood by now that LG of Delhi is made to represent the people of Delhi, to solve their problems and not that he is accountable to the headquarters of the BJP. So, my appeal through you all is that if the LG wanted, he could have got the negotiation done, he could have told the Haryana government, the Central government that Haryana should take the treated water of Delhi and use it for farming. This was also possible. But do not stop the water that is Delhi’s right, but he did not do that. He played politics, the kind of orders he got from the BJP headquarters,” she said.
The AAP senior leader said my appeal is that in this scorching summer, we have asked for a short-term arrangement, which arrangement has been directly made by the Supreme Court. The BJP should stop its dirty negative politics now, learn a lesson from the last election and release the water that is Delhi’s right with immediate effect, she concluded.
