The disappearing water of Delhi. More serious than you think

July 29, 2012
delhi_water

New Delhi, July 29: In a country where a woman's 'suhaag', her husband, is seen as central to her existence, imagine a song where a woman, driven to desperation, says it's easier to lose him than her precious pitcher of water. This was a song we filmed in Banda, Bundelkhand, 16 years ago, when we travelled to Uttar Pradesh. The water shortage appeared apocalyptic then, even for this under-developed part of India. But since then, Banda's thirst has become starker.

In 1997, the Centre for Science and Environment, published 'Dying Wisdom: The Rise, Fall and Potential of Traditional Water Harvesting Systems'. It beautifully mapped the acumen with which communities across the country once conserved their water resources. At the book's launch, when we interviewed the CSE director at the time, the late Anil Agarwal, he emphasized how urgent the need was for us to revert to our older water-harvesting techniques as well as develop newer ones. The book was widely-read and for a while, it seemed that policy-makers would take note. Yet, 15 years passed before some laws were put into place to make rainwater harvesting mandatory. The Delhi government, for instance, constantly reiterates its commitment to do rainwater harvesting but when we set out to do a water profiling of the city, we found a disturbing mismatch between intention and reality.

Dhiraj Ahuja runs a company called Delhi Tubewells Limited. In 1994 when his company dug a tubewell for a house they had to go down approximately 60 feet to get water. By 2011, for the same home, they had to go as deep as 250 feet to hit water. "In some places we only had to dig 30 feet and we would hit water, today when we are called to bore wells, even after going down 300 feet we don't get any water." It's a candid confession from a man who has profited greatly from a dangerous water policy which allowed unchecked tubewell-boring for decades.

From the mid-sixties, both the government and home owners have bored their own water supplies, deep into the earth, sucking out Delhi's ground water in massive quantities. "See those are tubewell pipes pulled out of the ground as the wells have dried up,' Dhiraj Ahuja points to piles of dug up borewell pipes, now lying unused and rusting.

Frantic laws are now being formulated to try and reverse the damage. In neighbouring Gurgaon, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has barred the Haryana government and its agencies from allowing any construction till real estate developers commit that they will use water tankers for building their projects. Ground water will be off-limits. The construction lobby has been badly hit by this. According to the Central Groundwater Authority (CGA), Gurgaon was illegally extracting as much as 50 million gallons of water per day - taking out from the ground three times the amount of water it replenished. The CGWA warned that by if this was not stopped Gurgaon would have no groundwater left by 2017.

In Delhi , a law passed in 2005 makes it mandatory for all tubewells to be registered with the government, but the Centre for Science and Environment reveals that only 100,000 tubewells are on the records -experts say at least double that amount are not documented. Regulating illegal tubewells is next to impossible as almost all our households have them and there is no one agency or government body tasked to monitor this.

Private householders argue that tubewells are the only option as the Delhi Jal Board, in charge of the city's water supply, simply does not provide adequate water. At the moment The Jal Board, a civic body mandated to provide water, supplies piped water to about 75% of Delhi's population which means many parts of the city has no connections. Those who do have water connections say the supply is erratic. Statistics also reveal how unequally the water has been distributed. Take a look at this - 70% of Delhi's total municipal water goes to the privileged Delhi Cantonment area, which means that less than 5% of a city's population guzzles up an entire city's water supply.

Vast areas like the ones we visited were completely left out of the Jal Board's ambit. In Madangir, a sprawling semi-urban, densely populated area, there are few Jal Board connections, leaving the residents dependent on a corrupt water tanker mafia. This is a scenario well-documented, with stories of long waits, water fights and large scale corruption. 'I have to pay almost Rs. 2000 a month for water, you tell me how am I supposed to survive," asks a middle-aged woman, the voting ink on her finger still not faded. "Should I spend on my children's education or give them drinking water?"

Dhiraj Ahuja, who was with us, pointed out the innumerable tubewells in the area, dug by those who could afford it, now bone dry.

This is one part of Delhi's catastrophic water story.

Cut now to a black-and-white picture taken in the 70s. It shows a group of five young men in a motor-boat on a vast lake. One of them, Sharad Gaur, is taking his friends to his ancestral village situated at the edge of the lake. His village and that vast lake is, today, Sector 20 Dwarka, a matrix of high-rise apartment buildings on the southern edge of Delhi. If the disappearance of a lake over 30 years is a common story in Delhi's growth as a city, there is enough evidence of water bodies disappearing almost overnight. Sharad Gaur, now the regional director with the Centre for Environment Education, a cell of the Environment Ministry, takes us across Delhi to show us how the city has rapidly destroyed its water bodies. The starting point is the most obvious - the river Yamuna and its flood plains. 88% of Delhi's water supply comes from surface water of which 60% is from the Yamuna. The abuse and neglect of this river has been reported often, but each new visit reveals a wave of fresh damage that is frightening. 40% of the Yamuna flood plains have been destroyed, the construction continues unchecked. At one site, in the heart of the city, Sharad Gaur pointed out the last remaining bit of the flood plains that had survived. On it one could see the seasonal cultivation, traditional to flood plain, a soothing green body acting as sponge for water in a desperately thirsty city. But less than a kilometer away, this was interrupted by a man dumping rubble into the same land - 'That's the way the Yamuna is reclaimed' explained Sharad Gaur.

If a city has no sense of its river, imagine the ease with which it has ruined its natural water bodies, old step wells, man-made lakes, each time evoking the fallacious argument of development. Shamsi Talab, once a water reservoir, is hemmed in by growing construction around it. Jahaaz Mahal as its name suggests once stood like a boat on water, now on dry ground. Vinod Jain's NGO TAPAS has been fighting a 20-year-old legal battle to save Delhi's innumerable natural water reservoirs. Their studies reveal that there's enough space for the city to grow without killing its own most precious natural resource. 'We have managed to bring 629 water bodies to the notice of the Court. I think there are actually as many as 800-900 but most of these water bodies have construction on them, around them, there is constant encroachment and some have just gone dry. In 2003 the Court has given an order to preserve the water bodies and I'm grateful for that. There's a lot of work to be done and I just hope the Delhi government becomes more serious in abiding by the Court', says Vinod Jain.

Legal intent, though is not enough on this own. With depleted groundwater, a river under threat and natural water bodies being destroyed, it became clear that there would be an urgent need to do rainwater harvesting on a war footing. In June 2001, the Ministry of Urban Development made rainwater harvesting mandatory in all new buildings with a roof area of more than 100 square meters and in new plots that had an area of more than 1000 square metres. On the ground, this is not working as no one wants to take responsibility of implementing the law. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), responsible for construction bye-laws, rarely checks if new buildings have rainwater harvesting apparatus. The Ground Water Board told us to take our queries to the water-harvesting cell of the Jal Board. And at the Jal Board, its CEO, Debashree Mukherjee told us that they do have a department that facilitates water harvesting but the Jal Board is mandated to enforce the law. The buck is passed with dizzying speed.

Dhiraj Ahuja, the 'tubewell man' is keen we end our story on a positive note. He says his company no longer digs tubewells but now works on creating rainwater harvesting systems He uses the same old tubewell pipes to now take water from the roof deep into the ground. Ahuja's company has been hired by the Ministry of Environment to carry out a Canadian grant to install rainwater harvesting systems in some schools and institutions. Ahuja takes us to some of these sites and says with deep satisfaction that he is 'returning to the ground, what he took from it. 'I am glad' he says, 'to move from destruction to creation'.

If only the city could move in the same direction.


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The wire
May 20,2020

Bhopal, May 20: Two months after Deepak Bundele, an advocate and former journalist, was brutally assaulted by the Madhya Pradesh’s Betul Police on March 23, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Kotwali Police Station in Betul district, BS Patel, approached the victim to record his statement. However, he allegedly tried to convince Bundele to withdraw the case saying that the cops had mistaken him for a Muslim since he has a long beard and assaulted him. But, the cop added, they were ashamed of the incident after they came to know that they had beaten their ‘Hindu brother’.
Bundele was on his way to the government hospital for diabetes treatment, a day before the countrywide lockdown was announced, when the assault occurred. Miffed with the incident and after the district police denied to register the case, he wrote to the State Human Rights Commission; Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court; Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan; Vivek Johri, Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh; and SP Betul to register an FIR against the police officials and take punitive action against them.
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, section 144 had been imposed in Betul district and public movement was restricted when the incident had occurred. 
Talking to Bundele, ASI Patel had said, “We seek an apology on behalf of those officials [who assaulted Bundele]. We are truly embarrassed because of the incident. If you want, I can bring those officials and make them apologise in person to you. They mistook you as a Muslim and assaulted you, since you had a long beard. And the man (who assaulted you) is a kattar (staunch) Hindu…In Hindu-Muslim riots whenever a Muslim is arrested, they beat them up brutally, always,” the police official can be heard saying in an audio recording shared by the victim.
In the 14 minutes long audio, he further said, “I request to you to withdraw the complaint. Please agree to our request; understand that we are living in Gandhi’s country; we are all Gandhi’s children…I have at least 50 friends from your caste.”
The cop continued, “All those people are ashamed that they did something like this to a Hindu brother without knowing his identity. We do not have any enmity against you. Whenever there is a Hindu-Muslim riot, police always supports the Hindus; even Muslims know this. But whatever happened with you was because of ignorance. For that, I have no words.” 
Refuting ASI Patel’s claim, Bundele claimed that there was no Hindu-Muslim riot that day, and asked whether he was beaten for being wrongly identified as a Muslim. The police officials agreed, and said: “Yes, exactly.”
“When I constantly declined to withdraw the compliant, he indirectly threatened me saying, ‘Agree to our request, else you and your advocate brother will face consequences’,” Bundele claimed. 
When contacted Betul SP DS Bhadoriya said, “I’m not aware of this audio clip. I will taken strict action, if I receive any such complain.”
Bundele said that he has written to the DGP and other senior police officials with details about the incident.   
THE ASSAULT
On March 23 evening, when Bundele was on his way to a hospital for the treatment, Betul Police allegedly thrashed him. The 32-year-old advocate had worked as a journalist for various dailies in Madhya Pradesh’s state capital for a decade. He moved to Betul in 2017 and started practising in the district court with his brother. “I have been a patient of diabetes and blood pressure for the last 15 years. On March 23, since I was not feeling well, I decided to visit the hospital and get some medicines. But I was stopped by the police midway,” Bundele had said. 
Even though the advocate, who sports a beard, said that he explained to police personnel that he had to get his medicines but one of them slapped him without trying to listen to what he was saying. “When I protested and said that police have no right to beat the public, they got anxious and within no time, many police officials came and started beating me up with sticks,” he added. 
"I need constant medication and lifesaving medicines to survive and I told the policemen everything while they were assaulting me. But, they kept hitting me, even after I fell,” he said, adding, "I bled for almost a 2-3 days after the incident.”
Bundele, sustained multiple injuries and his ear bled for almost two days after the incident, but, Betul police denied to file an FIR in the incident.
‘WILL MOVE TO THE HIGH COURT’
“Even after two months of the incident, no FIR has been registered and it seems that police is trying to sweep the matter under the carpet,” Bundele said, adding, “I have talked to the Supreme Court’s veteran advocate Vivek Tankha and Etasham Hashmi and will take this matter to the court.”
He also raised serious concerns about the communal angle of the incident, saying, “It’s a matter of grave concern that the police is turning communal and targeting a particular community.”

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.thewire.in/article/communalism/madhya-pr…

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News Network
April 15,2020

New Delhi, Apr 15: The Union Health Ministry has identified 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as potential hotspots, officials said on Wednesday, reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.

Addressing the daily briefing to provide updates on coronavirus situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that states have been asked to classify districts which have reported a higher number of cases as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported.

"Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high," Agarwal said, adding a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilise this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.

"Cabinet secretary held a video conference today with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hotspots were discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given.

"They were told about large outbreak containment strategies, cluster containment strategies. Delineation of buffer and containment zone, parameter mapping, defining of entry and exit points were also discussed in detail," he said.

The joint secretary said movement of people will not be allowed in containment zones except for those related with essential services and special teams will search for new cases and samples will be collected and tested as per sampling criteria.

The officials said that health facilities in buffer zone outside the containment zone will be oriented and people facing SARI and influenza-like symptoms will be tested there.

"Special teams have been formed which will work in containment zone and do contact tracing and house-to-house surveys. Cases of fever, cough and breathlessness will be identified in the survey and requisite action will be taken as per protocol," Agarwal said, adding that there has been no community transmissions so far but some local outbreaks.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 11,439 with 1,076 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours while the death toll stands at 377, the ministry official said.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Senior Delhi Congress leader and national spokesperson of the party Sharmishtha Mukherjee alleged delay in decision making and lack of strategy and unity at the state level for the party's humiliating performance reflected in the Assembly poll results on Tuesday.

Mukherjee, president of Delhi Mahila Congress, stated that it was high time that the party takes some action. She added that she too was responsible for the Congress' poor show.

The Congress is on the verge of drawing blank again in the Assembly polls as all its candidates were way far behind their AAP and BJP opponents on all the 70 seats. In the 2015 Assembly elections too, Congress failed to win any seat.

"We r again decimated in Delhi. Enuf of introspection, time 4 action now. Inordinate delay in decision making at the top, lack of strategy & unity at state level, demotivated workers, no grassroots connect-all r factors. Being part of d system, I too take my share of responsibility (sic)," Mukherjee tweeted as the results came out.

She also accused the BJP of playing divisive politics while crediting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for playing "smart politics" as the results showed a clean sweep by the AAP to return to power.

"BJP playing divisive politics, Kejriwal playing ‘smart politics’ & what r we doing? Can we honestly say that we’ve done all 2 put our house in order? We r busy capturing Congress whereas other parties are capturing India. If we r 2 survive, time 2 come out of exalted echo chambers! (sic)," she said in another tweet.

The Congress contested the Delhi polls in alliance with the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), fielding candidates on 66 seats and leaving four to its partner.

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