Delhi water crisis: SC asks Upper Yamuna River Board to convene urgent meeting on June 5

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Upper Yamuna River Board to convene an urgent meeting on June 5 to address the water crisis in the national capital.

Stressing that the problems of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi should be properly addressed, a bench, headed by Justice P.K. Mishra, ordered the listing of the plea filed by the Delhi government seeking additional water supply from neighbouring states on June 6.

The Bench, also comprising Justice K.V. Viswanathan, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to facilitate the river board’s meeting.

The Upper Yamuna River Board regulates the allocation of surface flow of the Yamuna amongst the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi.

In its petition filed before the apex court, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government demanded that neighbouring states be directed to release extra water for a month to address the extraordinary and excessive water demand of the city triggered by a surge in summer temperatures.

Delhi Water Minister Atishi has written a letter to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers Nayab Singh Saini and Yogi Adityanath requesting additional release of water to the national capital so that Delhites may comfortably surpass the peak summers.

Earlier, Atishi had sought urgent intervention from the Centre on the issue of water shortage and apprised the Union Jal Shakti Minister that Haryana must immediately release Delhi's rightful share of water into the Yamuna River to bring the waters to the normal level.

"Delhi is heavily dependent on water from the Yamuna River to meet its day-to-day demand for water. However, in the last few days, there has been a drastic dip in the water levels at the Wazirabad Barrage as Haryana is not releasing the required amount of water in the Yamuna River. This has resulted in a massive crisis of water in the national capital," she said in a letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday.

She added that the temperature in Delhi has touched almost 50 degrees Celsius, and this has further intensified the demand for water putting additional burden on the already strained demand-supply chain of potable drinking water in Delhi.