New Delhi, Jul 12
Delhi Water Minister Atishi has said the ongoing repair work on the Munak Canal is likely to be completed by Friday night.
A breach in one of the sub-branches of the Munak Canal, which supplies water from Haryana to Delhi, late Wednesday led to knee-deep waterlogging in several parts of the Bawana area. It also affected the water supply in different parts of the city.
Once the repair work is completed, the water supply from the Dwarka water treatment plant will be restored on Saturday morning, Atishi said.
Talking about the canal breach and its repair work, Atishi said, “The Munak Canal was breached the day before yesterday after its entry into Delhi, with nearly 15 metres of the embankment damaged. Since then, teams from the Haryana Irrigation Department and Delhi Jal Board have been working on it. The embankment has been rebuilt.
“The process of concrete-lining is underway; we are hopeful that the Dwarka water treatment plant will restart by 9 or 10 am tomorrow,” she said.
Speaking about the affected area and the JJ colony, she said the water has been cleared from the area, and a health camp set up for medical provisions as waterborne diseases can occur in such situations.
“Today, a health camp was set up for medical provisions, and over 100 people got their check-ups done, as waterborne diseases can occur in such situations,” she said.
The water has been cleared in all those areas, and the electric power supply has also been restored.
Everyone has returned to their homes, and she also added that food provisions were made until Friday morning.
An official from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said, “Repair work on the canal breach is underway. The temporary broken parts have been fixed after the water flow was completely stopped. Officials have been on-site to monitor the repair work since Thursday, and water has already been pumped out from the affected areas.”
“The maintenance work is handled by the Haryana government, so all bodies are in regular contact with the Haryana department to speed up the work,” he said.
Gopal Kumar, a local resident, said water has been pumped out from the affected areas.
“Repair work is currently underway with officers on-site monitoring the situation,” Kumar said.
The embankment of Munak Canal’s sub-branch (Career Line channel, CLC) breached between 12 midnight and 2 am on Thursday. This caused water from the Munak canal to enter many areas of Bawana, Atishi said in a digital briefing from the spot on Thursday.
Due to the breach, the water treatment plants in Dwarka, Hyderpur, Bawana and Nangloi were affected, the minister said. The water production from Bawana, Nangloi and Hyderpur treatment plants will normalise by Thursday evening but the Dwarka plant which completely depends on CLC for water supply will remain affected till Friday evening, she added.
