HC-constituted panel inspects illegal passages across Yamuna

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, May 13

Members of the committee constituted by the Delhi High Court visited Yamunanagar district on Sunday for the inspection of sites where the mining mafia has constructed makeshift passages and bundhs across the Yamuna.

Sources said the committee members first went to Kanalsi village, 17 km downstream of the Tajewala barrage, where a team of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) had seen a bundh being made on May 3.

SB Tripathi, petitioner, had moved an application in the Delhi HC for reviving the Yamuna flow. Thereafter, DJB officials were to submit a report to the court on May 8 regarding the position and quantum of the river flow at Tajewala.

The DJB team had visited Tajewala and other places in Yamunanagar district on May 3 and presented a report, and photographs of an obstruction in the Yamuna mainstream at Kanalsi village in the HC on May 8.

Passing an order that day (on May 8), the HC constituted the committee.

Sources said after visiting Kanalsi village, the committee members visited Mandauli village.

The sources said committee members also held a meeting with Bimal Kumar, engineer-in-chief, Irrigation Department, Haryana; Mohan Lal Rana, chief engineer; and officials of other departments in Yamunanagar.

The HC had asked the committee members to inspect and verify the existence of bundhs, if any, along the river and their impact on the supply of water to Delhi. The committee would submit a report to the court before the next date of hearing.

Vinod Kumar, executive engineer, Water Service Division, Jagadhri, said committee members expressed satisfaction as there was no obstruction in the Yamuna mainstream.