LG says DJB should have ensured upkeep of Munak canal, Atishi says priority is to fix it

Officials from the LG office said that Saxena previously the matter upkeep in June when the government raised issues of water leakage, theft and less water being released from the canal

New Delhi

Water rose up to a height of four to five feet in Bawana Colony. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Following the damage to a portion of the Munak canal on Wednesday night, lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena asked the chief secretary to take serious note of inadequate maintenance of the canal, pointing out that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) should have undertaken repairs through the Haryana irrigation department intermittently.

Officials from the LG office said that Saxena previously the matter upkeep in June when the government raised issues of water leakage, theft and less water being released from the canal. Saxena also asked the CS to take up the matter with ministers to ensure repairs.

A letter sent to the CS by the principal secretary to the LG said: “The breach in the Munak Canal underlines the absence of adequate maintenance of the canal, which should have been undertaken by DJB through Haryana irrigation department from time to time. LG has taken serious note of the matter and has advised the CS to take the matter with minister (water) and minister (flood control department), GNCTD so as to ensure that the matter is taken up with the Haryana authorities at the appropriate level and this channel is restored, repaired and maintained at the earliest.”

In response, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said Haryana was to blame. In a statement, it said: “As far as maintenance is concerned, it is Haryana’s responsibility. In the canal system, the ownership of the canal remains with one state even if that canal comes to another state. Even if the canal enters Delhi, the ownership remains with Haryana. Despite being within Delhi, Haryana will have jurisdiction over it; the Delhi government cannot tamper with it or do anything of significance.”

“The LG is not ‘Satyawadi Harishchandra’. If he writes something, we ought not to believe as if the court has given its verdict. The LG often writes misleading things in his letters,” it said.

Responding to the allegations of leakage leading to breach in the canal, Delhi water minister Atishi, who was inspecting the point of breach in canal at Bawana on Thursday, said that the channel-lined carrier (CLC) canal is maintained by the Haryana irrigation department and teams from both Haryana and DJB were at the spot to undertake repairs. The minister said that the priority is to repair the canal on a war footing.

“It is clear that there was no leakage. You can see that in this 8 to 10-foot-wide embankment, there is no moisture and if there was any leakage, the soil would be wet...We will carry out an inquiry if there has been any foul play as we cannot see any evidence of seepage in the embankment. There will be inquiry, but the priority is to repair it,” she said.