State tells UP to release its water

Sensing the possible water scarcity during summer, the Haryana government has asked the neighbouring state, Uttar Pradesh, to immediately release Haryana’s share of water in the Yamuna river waters upstream of the Okhla Barrage.

Sensing the possible water scarcity during summer, the Haryana government has asked the neighbouring state, Uttar Pradesh, to immediately release Haryana’s share of water in the Yamuna river waters upstream of the Okhla Barrage.

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The move came to ensure adequate water supply in southern Haryana districts such as Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat and parts of Gurgaon during summer season.

The Haryana irrigation minister Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav has written to the irrigation minister of Uttar Pradesh, Nasimuddin Siddiqui, and said that people of Haryana will have to suffer badly if its share of water is not released immediately.

The resentment among farmers of the affected districts was echoed in the Haryana Assembly during the last session, with a large number of legislators raising the issue.

Earlier on Sunday, the Gurgaon member of parliament, Rao Inderjeet Singh, also raised the issue of water problem during a rally in Mahendragarh. He sought immediate settlement to the long-pending despute between Haryana and Punjab governments over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal project.

The project entails the irrigation of dry patches of Haryana by making a canal on the surplus Ravi-Beas waters.

But due to opposition from the Punjab government, the SYL project is pending in the Supreme Court of India.

Effort goes down the drain

The ambitious project of NCR Water Canal that is likely to be ready by this month is not going to give relief to residents of parched Gurgaon soon. Reason: The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has failed to construct storage tanks at the end of this canal.

Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “The NCR channel will be operational by April 30. But the storage tanks at the end of the channel for supplying water to Gurgaon, being constructed by Huda might take longer and would not be completed by the same date.” People would continue to depend on limited supply from Gurgaon water canal and groundwater.
HTC, Gurgaon