Dam water for Kumbh illegal: Bombay High Court

Coming down heavily on the state government for releasing a huge amount of dam water for the shahi snans at Kumbh Mela in Nashik despite the water scarcity, the Bombay high court on Monday termed it “illegal” and asked the government to rethink its decision before the next shahi snan this week. The court was informed that the government released two TMC (thousand million cubic) dam water for shahi snans in Nashik.

The division bench of justices A.S. Oka and V.L. Achliya was hearing a petition filed by H.M. Desarda, a professor from Pune, seeking quashing of the state government’s decision to release one TMC water for every shahi snan (royal bath). Professor Desarda informed the court that for the shahi snan on September 13, the government released two TMC water from the Gangapur dam. The court was also informed that Kumbh Mela started on July 14 and the next shahi snan is on September 18. The government has allowed release of one TMC of water for each snan.

While hearing the petition the bench observed, “The government has a policy which categorises its priority list with regard to supply of water. As per the policy, supply of water for drinking purposes comes first and supply of water for such purposes like the shahi snan comes in the last and fourth category. When the state is reeling under drought what you (government) done is illegal.”

The court directed the government to rethink its decision before the next shahi snan scheduled on September 18. The court admitted the petition and posted it for hearing on September 21.