UP out of Delhi water exchange plan despite LG's request to CM Yogi: RTI

Uttar Pradesh backed out from plan to provide 140 million gallons per day (MGD) of raw water to Delhi in lieu of equivalent quantity of treated effluent for irrigation despite the Lieutenant Governor making a request to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, according to an RTI reply.

The plan involved supply of 270 cusecs (1 cusec is equal to 1 cubic feet per second) of fresh water from the Murad Nagar Regulator to the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant in Delhi and the release of an equivalent quantity of treated effluent from the Okhla sewage treatment plant in the Agra Canal.

Documents accessed under the Right to Information Act showed that the two states held multiple meetings on the water exchange plan starting May 3, 2018, and the then LG Anil Baijal and the then chief secretary Vijay Kumar Dev had also requested the UP government to finalise the agreement.

A feasibility report the UP Jal Nigam sent to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on July 1, 2020, said the project was workable.

The DJB