The Gurgaon administration on Monday requested the Punjab and Haryana High Court to allow installation of new tubewells for drinking and domestic purpose. An affidavit was filed on Monday by P C Meena,IAS,Deputy Commissioner,Gurgaon during a hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) highlighting scarcity of drinking water in Gurgaon. The affidavit read that the National Horticulture Mission and Rashtriya Kisan Vikas Yojana schemes are hampered due to scarcity of water and the small and marginal farmers are particularly affected. The IAS officer also submitted that rural population becomes belligerent whenever there is scarcity of water. Responding to the courts query on the issue of scarcity of drinking water in Gurgaon,the government said that it has made plans to arrest the alarming rate at which the drinking water is depleting. Keeping in view the growing demand due to regular migration from NCR and other parts of the globe to Gurgaon,a new NCR canal,with a capacity of 500 cusec,has been constructed to supply water exclusively for drinking and domestic purpose in Gurgaon, the affidavit read. It further stated that as per the report submitted by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA),five water treatment plants with a capacity of 22 million gallon daily (MGD) each were being constructed at Budhera village. The second plant will be in operation by September and the third by December this year,the affidavit stated. The DC said that by December,about 126 MGD canal water will be available for drinking and domestic purpose,which is enough for a population of 37 lakh. Since,the present population of Gurgaon town is 15.7 lakh,there will be no scarcity of drinking water in the area after December. On the issue of use of ground water for construction by licensed builders,the DC said that despite a High Court ban on use of ground water,162 cases of violations,by builders and residents of colonies,have been reported. The DC also said that action against 157 violators have been taken. Further,the department has issued 479 notices to licensed builders to disclose their source of water. Significantly,as many as 860 cases of illegal abstraction of water have been reported by defaulters. The affidavit was taken on record by the High Court and the case was adjourned for four weeks for further arguments.
