Delhi: Water shortage to end as canal secure

Amid the ongoing Jat stir in several parts of Haryana, which had severely disrupted the water supply in the national capital, the Delhi government on Monday said that it was expecting to restore 25 per cent of water supply in the city by evening. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the Centre and the Army for securing the Munak Canal, which provides water to Delhi.

“Thank u Army, thank u Centre for securing Munak Canal back. Great relief for Delhi,” Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet. Mr Kejriwal had said on Monday morning that water was completely used up in Delhi and appealed to the Centre to intervene immediately and get the supply restored from the canal.

After an emergency meeting held at Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s residence to assess the situation, Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra said that 400 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water was released from the Munak subcanal, adding that 25 per cent water supply in Delhi is expected to be restored by late Monday evening.

“About 400 cusecs of water has been released from the kuchha sub-branch of the Munak Canal, out of which nearly 300 cusecs will reach Delhi in 6-7 hours. A team of the DJB is on standby and as soon as it reaches Haidarpur treatment plant, supply will be started. We hope that by late evening we will be able to restore 25 per cent water supply in Delhi,” he said.

The canal has a “pucca” and a “kuchha” system. The gates of pucca canal are still closed and these have been damaged by the agitators at many points. A special team of the DJB has been sent to assess the damage and the time required to repair it, the city minister said. The water released through kuchha sub-branch reached Delhi by late Monday evening helping in partial restoration of water supply, he said. “Partial supply of water will be restored, but it will take 7-10 more days in repairing the Munak Canal,” Mr Mishra said.