Uttar Pradesh rules out water for Sonia Vihar plant

New Delhi, Apr 23: Faced with an acute shortage of drinking water, people in the national capital will have to 'exercise patience' with the Uttar Pradesh government making it clear that it will not release water for Delhi Jal Board's Sonia Vihar treatment plant during this summer.

''How can we release water for Sonia Vihar Plant when we ourselves are facing severe shortage of water?'', Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Kawkab Hameed said.

Mr Hameed, however, clarified that it was not stopping water to Delhi. ''Our first and foremost concern is to provide water to our own people before releasing it to others,'' he told reporters, pointing out that efforts are on to bring the Ganga Water into the Upper Yamuna Canal, which is vital for the state.

For its over one crore people, Delhi needs 900 mgd of water but the supply is only 650 mgd, leaving a shortfall of 250 mgd.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who heads the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), had requested Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz to take up the issue with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Ms Anuradha Chaudhary, Chairperson, Irrigation Development and Flood Control Commission, Uttar Pradesh, told UNI that ''we have not been able to fill even the Tehri reservoir, which is vital for providing irrigation faciliies to farmers in Western Uttar Padesh.

''It is just not possible to release additional water not only for Sonia Vihar plant but even for irrigation in western parts of Uttar Pradesh.'' Pointing out that Uttar Pradesh had been releasing 200 cusecs of water to the Delhi Jal Board's Bhagirathi plant on humanitarian considerations despite a shortfall in winter rainfall, Ms Chaudhary, MP and General Secretary of the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal, said she could only advise people of Delhi to ''exercise patience and share our concern''.

She said work on filling the Tehri reservoir had begun on October 29 last year. ''We had set a target of filling the dam to a height of 740 meters by today, but due to lesser availability of water in the Bhagirathi river as also poor winter rainfall, the dam could be filled till only 726 meters.'' During the past few years, the average availability of water in the Bhagirathi river has hovered between 2500 cusecs and 5000 cusecs.

But this year, mere 1000 cusecs of water was being released from the Tehri dam for the Upper Ganga Canal, she said, pointing out that this had been because of the ongoing work on filling the Tehri reservoir.

''In other words, the Upper Ganga Canal has been witnessing a shortfall of 2500 cusecs of water as compared to past years,'' Ms Chaudhary said, adding that farmers in western parts of Uttar Pradesh were getting less water from Upper Ganga Canal and Agra Canal for the rabi (winter) crops.

She also said farmers in western parts of the state had been advised to go for only those crops which required less water.

Terming the Tehri Dam as ''an ambitious project'', she expressed hope that additional water would be released from the Tehri dam from the first week of November.

''We appeal to the people in western Uttar Pradesh and their representatives to face the crisis with patience,'' Ms Chaudhary said.

UNI