Delhi has no hope of relief from water crisis yet, talks with Haryana remained inconclusive

Delhi Jal Board has issued an official statement stating that Haryana government has clearly refused to give additional water to Delhi amid the current water crisis. To deal with this serious water crisis, a high level delegation of Delhi government officials held a meeting with the Principal Secretary (Water Resources) of Haryana government in Chandigarh on Tuesday. In this meeting, Delhi government requested Haryana government to release additional water for Delhi.

Three senior officials of the Delhi government, Additional Chief Secretary Manish Gupta, DJB CEO A Anbarasu and Nodal CE Water SL Meena held a high-level meeting with the Principal Secretary (Water Resources) of the Haryana government on Tuesday. Its purpose was to find a solution to the growing water crisis in Delhi. During the meeting, Delhi government officials told the Haryana government representative that Delhi’s Water Minister Atishi has emphasized on working together to reduce the water crisis caused by the scorching heat.

She demanded immediate assistance to mitigate the suffering of the people of Delhi and requested to postpone the discussion on Yamuna water distribution until the situation normalizes. On June 15, Atishi had requested Haryana to give some additional water to Delhi on humanitarian grounds. The Upper Yamuna River Board had advised Delhi and Haryana to hold a bilateral meeting and consider giving some additional water from Haryana to Delhi.

In this important meeting, the Delhi government delegation requested the Haryana government to release additional water on humanitarian grounds so that the water problem of the national capital can be reduced in this scorching heat, but the Haryana government refused, expressing its inability to give additional water to Delhi at this time. Atishi said that the people of Delhi are facing extreme trouble due to lack of water. Delhi has never experienced such severe heat before. Therefore, for the welfare of the public, we need to immediately release additional water from Haryana.