'Delhi not honouring power-for-water deal'

Lucknow, May 22 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government today alleged the central and Delhi governments were not honouring the power-for-water agreement.

''The centre has promised to give 600 Mw of additional power to UP, but till date only 50 Mw has been given,'' said state energy minister Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Addressing a news conference here, Mr Yadav said the centre and the Delhi government were not honoring the agreement, even as UP was giving enough water to the national capital.

''We know water is essential for man and UP is trying to provide adequate water to Delhi, so that there is no scarcity of drinking water,'' he claimed.

Commenting over AICC president Sonia Gandhi's statement of concern on the plight of UP, the minister alleged if the Congress was really sympathetic towards UP, so much ''politics'' would not have been done by the centre.

UP government and the Centre had reached an agreement on Friday, under which the state would release water for Delhi's Sonia Vihar Plant in return for additional power.

Under the agreement, UP had already released two cumex (cubic metre per second) of additional water for Sonia Vihar on Saturday.

Although, UP had initially raised the demand for additional 700 Mw, the same was brought down to 600 Mw.

Meanwhile, Mr Yadav said the power crisis in UP would be solved to some extent by first week of June, when 210 Mw additional power would be obtained from Paricha thermal unit and some power from the Tehri hydro project.

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