The
Supreme Court said Monday an emergent meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board
(UYRB) be held on June 5 so that the problem of water scarcity in Delhi is
properly addressed.
The
apex court was hearing a Delhi government plea seeking a direction to Haryana
to release the surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to the national
capital to mitigate its ongoing water crisis.
A vacation bench of Justices P K Mishra and K V
Viswanathan noted that the advocates appearing for the Centre and the
governments of Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have agreed that a meeting
of the UYRB be held to address the issue of scarcity of water in the national
capital.
"In
the course of hearing, all the parties agreed that there should be a
non-adversarial approach to the problem of scarcity of water faced by the
citizens of Delhi," the bench said.
It
said the lawyers have "agreed that there shall be an emergent meeting of
the Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5 to address the issues agitated in this
petition and all other connected issues in right earnest so that the problem of
scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi shall be properly addressed".
The
bench said the matter be posted for hearing on June 6 along with the minutes of
the meeting of the board and the suggested steps to be taken by the
stakeholders to solve the problem.
The
plea filed by Delhi's Water Minister Atishi has made the Centre, the
BJP-governed Haryana and the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh parties to the
petition, saying that access to water is essential for survival and is one of
the basic human rights.
The
petition has sought a direction to the Haryana government for immediate and
continuous release of water at the Wazirabad barrage, including but not limited
to the full surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh for the National Capital
Territory (NCT) of Delhi.