‘People are suffering’: SC asks Delhi govt to list measures undertaken to control water wastage

Delhi water crisis: In a hearing about Delhi’s water scarcity, the Supreme Court asked the Delhi government to list out the measures it has taken to control water wastage. Rebuking the Delhi government, the apex court said that people are suffering and if they are unable to deal with the water tanker mafia, then the court will ask the Delhi Police to take action. 

“People are suffering, we are seeing visuals on every news channel…What measures have you taken to control water wastage if water scarcity is a recurring problem in summers,” a vacation bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale asked the Delhi government, adding that this matter had come up in 2018, 2019 and 2020 too. “Have you taken action against illegal transportation of water,” the court asked. 

"Why were false statements made before this court? Water is coming from Himachal Pradesh then where is the water going in Delhi? There is so much spillage, tanker mafias etc," the court stated.

The Supreme Court was hearing Delhi government’s plea seeking directions to Haryana government for immediate release of water to the national capital that is facing at a water shortage amid heatwave conditions. 

The court pointed out that some solution or arrangement must be arrived at for the citizens. “This is a recurring problem…we are facing this problem every year,” the court stated. 

The apex court ordered the Delhi government to file an affidavit on the measures taken to manage the loss of water. The affidavits must be filed by tomorrow, the court ordered.

In the previous hearing on June 3 – when the matter was adjourned for June 12 – the court had directed Himachal Pradesh to release water on June 7 with prior intimation to Haryana. It said that the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) will measure the excess water which comes to Hathnikund for its onward supply to Wazirabad and Delhi. 

The UYRB was set up in 1995 to regulate the allocation of available flows among beneficiary states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, as well as monitor and review the progress of all projects up to and including the Okhla barrage in Delhi.