All-party panel on polluted water supply

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 14

An all-party committee of legislators led by Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar will approach the Centre and Delhi Government over the supply of polluted water to Faridabad, Palwal, Nuh and parts of Gurugram from Okhla Barrage.

After MLAs raised the matter during Zero Hour in the Assembly today, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the formation of the committee, comprising MLAs of Faridabad, Palwal, Nuh and Gurugram.

Zakir Hussain, INLD MLA from Nuh, was the first to raise the matter. He said the water supplied from Okhla Barrage on the Yamuna was polluted with sewage and industrial waste. “Water is so polluted that micro-irrigation system, which is the need of the hour considering the scarcity of water, does not work at all. Besides, polluted water causes diseases in Mewat,” he alleged.

Mool Chand Sharma, BJP MLA from Ballabgarh, and Karan Singh Dalal, Congress MLA from Palwal, also shared Hussain’s concerns and alleged water in their area, too, was highly polluted.

In his reply, Dhankar said Hussain had raised the matter several times and he (Dhankar), too, shared his concerns.

“The biochemical oxygen demand level of water supplied to Haryana from Okhla Barrage is too high. The Haryana Government has conveyed this to the AAP government in Delhi on several occasions,” he said.

He said Haryana provided Delhi clean water but, in return, Delhi has been supplying polluted water.