Full water supply only after 2 weeks as Jat stir cripples capital's lifeline

Water supply in the city is likely to take two weeks to be fully restored as Jat protesters have extensively damaged the Munak canal, Delhi's lifeline, which accounts for close to 45% of the supply, at several places.

There was, however, some relief on Monday after Delhi Jal Board started partial production at the Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla treatment plants.

The government announced that schools, shut on Monday due to the water crisis, will reopen on Tuesday. By Tuesday morning, authorities hope to supply 475 million gallons per day, about 50% of Delhi's total supply capacity of 900 MGD.

The Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla plants, with a combined capacity of 238 MGD, take raw water from the Yamuna. These plants too are now unable to fully function due to high levels of ammonia in the river.

Protesters had taken control of Munak canal at Mandora village in Haryana on February 19 and then again the next day. On Monday, the Army finally wrested control but protesters moved to Khubru, a village 35km upstream and stopped supply to the canal completely.

Both banks of the Munak canal have been completely breached along a length of 250 feet, sources said.

A DJB team was sent to Mandora to assess the damage to Munak. After the army took control of the canal, Haryana said it would release water through the Delhi sub-branch, an offshoot of Munak which has a capacity of 215 MGD. However, officials soon realized that despite opening gates, there was no water in the channel because protesters had blocked the canal in Khubru.

"Due to major leakages in the sub-branch, losses of 25% are expected. However, we will now not even get water through that until the protesters are flushed out of Khubru. Munak canal, meanwhile, is seriously damaged. Haryana has communicated to Delhi that repair work may take almost a fortnight and can be carried out only under army security," said sources.

If the canal gates at Khubru are opened, Delhi will get sufficient water to start 50% production in the Bawana, Nangloi and Haiderpur plants.

Meanwhile, the city continued to function on stored water or through tankers as piped water was not available across the city, with the exception of east and parts of south Delhi. Many Delhiites stocked up on mineral water bottles to tide over the crisis while a section of residents in north Delhi opened their tubewells for use by neighbours.

At 5.30pm on Monday, when ammonia levels in the Yamuna had touched 1.3 ppm against a permissible limit of 0.5 ppm, Wazirabad started production at 25%. The Chandrawal and Okhla plants were started later in the evening at a similar capacity. DJB chairperson Kapil Mishra said that production would be scaled up to 50% by Monday night.

This partial supply will benefit NDMC areas and parts of north Delhi. This water will also be taken through tankers to other parts.

he only worry with these plants is that production will be affected if ammonia levels rise again. "While 0.5 ppm is permissible, we can scale down production and carry out treatment up to 1.3 ppm. In this case too, we started partial production at 1.3 ppm but by evening ammonia levels had dropped to 0.9 ppm, allowing us to increase production," said a senior DJB official.

"However, these plants have been affected at least on three occasions already this year due to high ammonia. We have been in touch with Haryana and asked them to ensure that no further pollution is released into the river," the official added.

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Jat stir: Delhi staring at water crisis; schools to remain shut tomorrow

The Delhi government ordered all schools shut on Monday and rationing of dwindling water supplies to stave off a crippling crisis after rampaging Jat protesters demanding quota in education and jobs damaged a key supply link to the Capital.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday water rationing would be implemented across the city and asked people to save water on a day the Supreme Court is expected to take up the city government’s urgent plea to resolve the issue.

“We are left with no water now, this morning’s supply was the last one,” Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra told ANI.

Senior ministers said seven water treatment plants were forced shut after angry mobs broke the control apparatus of the Munak canal in Haryana, affecting several pockets in west, northwest and south Delhi.

The top court is likely to hear the government’s “urgent” plea to resolve the issue on Sunday morning. Morning supply was available at low pressure as only 60% of the water was available.

“Delhi facing unprecedented water crisis. Soon, water will have to be rationed. Shouldn’t scarcity be equally shared between public and VIPs?” Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on Sunday .

The chief minister met Sisodia, water minister Kapil Mishra, Delhi Jal Board chief and the secretary of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation at an emergency meeting on Sunday morning.

Mishra said 760 tankers will serve parched areas from Sunday. Delhi government also asked traffic police to provide free access to water tankers and treat water supply as emergency service.

Appealing to people to use water judiciously, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said stocks were drying up.

“There is a crisis situation in Delhi. Whatever store of water we had we will use that for the people. As of now, we have rationed yesterday’s water. After tomorrow we will not be able to supply water,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia told the media on Saturday.

Against the total production of 820 million gallons per day (MGD) of potable water, only 240 MGD was being produced because of the disruption of supply from Haryana, Delhi Jal Board officials said.

The protesters shut the gates late on Friday evening. They were opened after the Delhi government took up the matter with Haryana.

On Saturday, Mishra held an emergency meeting and cancelled leaves and weekly offs of DJB officers.

Mishra said it could take at least 24 hours to mend the controls even after the gates of the Munak canal were cleared of protesters.

Among the areas affected were Dwarka, Janakpuri, Munirka, Palam, Rajouri Garden, Punjabi Bagh, Vasant Kunj, Saket, Green Park and Lodhi Colony, where residents complained of little or no water.

The spiraling Jat protests have hamstrung the Haryana administration as angry mobs dug up roads and used trucks and buses to seal off the districts of Bhiwani, Jhajjar and the epicentre of the protests, Rohtak.

Protesters clashed with security forces in almost every part of the state, burning offices and railway stations, leaving five people dead on Saturday.

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Delhi Government to Deliberate on Re-introduction of Odd-even

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting tomorrow with his ministers and officials concerned on the implementation of the proposed second phase of the odd-even car-rationing scheme.

The pilot plan was implemented from January 1-15 with Sundays being exempted from it. Based on "positive" response from the public received through different platforms, the government has decided to deliberate on re-introducing the scheme. Four probable launching dates for the second phase are being looked at - February 14, March 1, April 1 and May 1.

A senior official said Delhi government has received over 11 lakh responses on the future course of its car-rationing scheme and most of them voted in favour of the plan that seeks to cut down air pollution by promoting use of public transport. "The Chief Minister has convened a review meeting with his ministers and officials from concerned departments tomorrow to discuss and analysis the responses sent by the masses since January 26," the official said.

Sources said that the next phase of odd-even scheme will be introduced after the CBSE Board examinations. The government received the public opinion through emails, missed calls, online forms and suggestions of people whom it reached out to through interactive voice response system. "Around 28,300 suggestions have been received through online forms while another 9,000 and 1,82,808 have come through emails and missed called respectively. The government, on its part, has made more than 9,00,000 calls to gather public opinion," a senior government official said.

Now we will analyse the responses, he added. An email-id 'oddevenidea@gmail.com' was opened on January 26 to invite public opinion on the scheme, while a dedicated website and a phone line was launched on February 1.

Also people's response was gathered through automated calls through IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) where they were given a number of options on the proposed second phase of the odd-even scheme. Apart from these, 'jan sabhas' (public meetings) were held across the city on two days to get more feedback.

AAP MLAs, who organised the meetings, have claimed that public opinion was "overwhelmingly" in favour of re-introduction of the scheme which was rolled out on January 1 for a fortnight in the first phase. A structured questionnaire was put forth by the government on whether the scheme should be implemented again, if yes, when it should be done and for what duration among others.

It had also asked people whether the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and Union ministers should be exempted in the second phase. The status of women drivers, who were exempted in the first phase, will also be decided based on the responses.

The government is likely to implement the next phase of scheme after it seeks to first address two major concerns related to commuting by school children and the possibility of people purchasing another car to circumvent the restrictions.

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