HC wants Haryana to ensure water supply to Delhi & monitor Yamuna via Google mapping

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New Delhi: Taking strict note of how sand mining activity in India’s ‘sacred’ river Yamuna was destroying its flora and fauna, the Delhi High Court has directed the Haryana government to ensure that adequate water was provided to Delhi and to monitor the river through live Google mapping.

The court on 25 May directed the Haryana government to ensure that water is supplied to the national capital without any hindrance after it was told there were ‘bunds’ on river Yamuna at several places apart from mining activity. The court’s order came on a plea filed by DJB seeking sufficient water supply for Delhi.

‘There should be no hindrance in flow of water from there (Haryana) to Delhi,’ a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A.J. Bhambhani observed in their order.

The direction came after a committee, constituted by the high court to inspect whether ‘bunds’ have been put in the canals carrying water meant for Delhi, told the bench that such obstructions were found at 11 locations on the Yamuna.

The committee, also comprising retired high court judge Indermeet Kaur and amicus curiae Rakesh Khanna, and retired additional chief secretary Nivedita Haran, submitted a report stating that apart from the ‘bunds’, there was large-scale mining in Yamuna and one of its tributaries, the Somb.

The report clearly said that mining was ‘causing huge environmental damage to the flora and fauna’ in and around the river bed, further adding that the ‘bunds’ had severely affected the flow of water in the Yamuna.