Another dry day

With the level of the Yamuna river plummeting further, water woes of Delhi residents continue unabated for the second consecutive day. HT Correspondent reports.

With the level of the Yamuna river plummeting further on Wednesday, water woes of Delhi residents continued unabated for the second consecutive day.

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Large parts of north, central and south Delhi had to make do with a heavily curtailed water supply. In some areas, water was supplied just for a few minutes. The water crisis is not likely to get better before Saturday.

Officials of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) say that there is not much they can do till such time that Haryana releases water.

On Wednesday, the level of Yamuna dipped to 673 feet as against the normal level of 674.5 feet. This has affected production in Wazirabad and Chandrawal WTP.

As a result, north and central Delhi areas like like Model Town, Jahangirpuri, Azadpur, Civil Lines, Gole Market, Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk, Jama Masjid were affected. South Delhi areas like Green Park, south extension, Lajpat Nagar, Moti Bagh and adjoining areas were also suffered water shortage.

Senior DJB officials said pumping could be affected in these two plants if the Yamuna level falls below 672 feet.

This has been the third time this year that Delhi’ites had to suffer on account of Haryana not releasing adequate water. Recently Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention.

Haryana irrigation department officials, however, denied the allegations that they are holding back Delhi’s water share.

“There was a problem as we had diverted the route through which water was released. We have now released water through an alternate route. It will reach Delhi in the next 48 hours. It will take 2-3 days before the water reaches Delhi,” said M.K. Lamba, Superintendent Engineer, Haryana irrigation department.