Hitting out at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been blaming Haryana for the rise in Yamuna water level by releasing surplus water from the Hathnikund Barrage, the Manohar Lal Khattar government on Thursday said Kejriwal’s claims were false and contrary to facts.
“The Delhi chief minister’s claim that Yamuna’s water level has risen due to the release of surplus water from the Hathnikund Barrage is absolutely false. It appears that his officers did not inform him of the accurate details. The letter written by Arvind Kejriwal to the Union home minister in this regard holds no significance,” said Devender Singh, advisor (irrigation) to the chief minister Haryana, said in a statement.
Singh, who is a retired additional chief secretary (ACS) rank Haryana cadre IAS officer, has termed Delhi CM’s statement regarding the rise in the water level of the Yamuna river as “baseless and beyond facts.”
He said the structure at Hathnikund (in Yamunanagar district) is a barrage designed to divert/regulate the water. “Only a dam, not a barrage can control water in limited quantities,” he said, adding following the Central Water Commission’s recommendations, the water discharged into the Yamuna river for protection of the Hathnikund barrage, is the water which is constantly coming from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand due to excessive rains.
Singh further said that due to this water, land erosion and water-logging have occurred in Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat and Sonipat, due to which Haryana has to bear a heavy loss of life and property. If there was any option to release water in limited quantities, it would have been in the interest of Haryana State also, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Singh further said that due to this water, land erosion and water-logging have occurred in Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat and Sonipat, due to which Haryana has to bear a heavy loss of life and property. If there was any option to release water in limited quantities, it would have been in the interest of Haryana State also, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Notably, Hathnikund Barrage is a barrage located in Yamunanagar on the Yamuna River. This barrage was built between 1998 and 2000 to replace the earlier Tajewala Barrage. The structure located at Hathnikund supplies water to the partner states as per the 1994 agreement/memorandum.
The Hathnikund barrage was designed by the Central Water Commission (CWC). “There is no way to store water in this barrage,” he said.
“According to the guidelines of the CWC, when more than one lakh cusecs of water come into it, the water automatically goes into the Yamuna river. If an attempt is made to stop the water coming into the barrage, it can damage all the gates of the barrage and this water can turn into a fierce flood and cause huge destruction in Haryana and Delhi.”