A war of words has erupted over the water crisis in NCR between the ruling AAP government and BJP‘s Haryana government. Delhi has accused Haryana of taking advantage of its location and not releasing surplus water supplied by Himachal Pradesh to it, while Haryana claims that it has supplied its share and that for every 100 litres of water that comes into Delhi, 52.25 litres are lost due to mismanagement and leakages. AAP says record-high temperatures and heatwaves have increased demand, leading to a shortage. On Monday, the Supreme Court intervened and called for an emergency meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5 and asked for a status report by June 6.This AAP-BJP skirmish over water, in the heat of election season, is the last thing suffering citizens deserve. It’s yet another reflection of priorities of the political as well as voting classes, as amply reflected in the long Lok Sabha campaign. Instead of debating and voting on issues that can make the lives of the citizenry better, candidates spent their energies on matters far removed from the here and now, fundamentals as basic as supply of water. Not a word was spent during the whole of elections on the water challenge India’s cities face, even though the Bengaluru water crisis actually timed itself to happen as politicians hit the campaign road.
Delhi’s water crisis has been a long-festering issue. Stakeholders need to focus on finding strategies to augment all sources of water, untie knots that are stalling three upstream storages on the Yamuna and its tributaries – Renuka dam in Himachal Pradesh, Kishau dam at the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border, and Lakhwar-Vyasi dam in Uttarakhand. These aren’t ‘municipal issues’, but nation-building/breaking ones.
