The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Himachal Pradesh government to release the 137 cusecs surplus water to Delhi to ease the water crisis in the national capital.
A vacation bench comprising Justice P K Mishra and Justice K V Viswanathan directed Himachal Pradesh to supply 137 cusecs of surplus water available. The bench also ordered Haryana to facilitate the flow of surplus water to Hathnikhund barrage and to Wazirabad in Delhi.
The court ordered the release of surplus water on June 7 with prior intimation to Haryana. In addition, the Upper Yamuna River Board has further been directed to measure the water that comes from Hathnikhund. Both Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have also been directed to file an affidavit to this effect, the case will now come up for hearing on June 10.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh told the court that it had surplus water and was ready to provide the same. The state submitted a document mentioning the availability of the surplus water.
However, during the hearing, Haryana argued that there is no means to verify if the water was actually released by Himachal as it has to pass through the state. Haryana also sought for time to analyse the data provided by Himachal Pradesh on availability of water.
Nonetheless, the top court however noted that Delhi’s water crisis is serious and is an existential problem. The court on June 3 ordered the Upper Yamuna River Board to call for an urgent meeting to discuss the water crisis in the capital.
The Supreme Court was hearing a Delhi government plea seeking a direction to Haryana to release the surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to the national capital to mitigate its ongoing water crisis.
CM Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government told the apex court that the demand for water in the city has risen significantly amid prevailing heatwave conditions and neighbouring Haryana be directed to release extra water for a month.
Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal urged the BJP to ask its governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to provide water to the national capital for a month, saying it was not the time to indulge in politics.