About 12 lakh residents of Ghaziabad, Noida and neighbouring parts have not been receiving Ganga water supply for a few days.
The state authorities have announced the closure of the Upper Ganga Canal in Haridwar – which supplies water to UP-NCR and some parts of the national Capital – to carry out de-silting work, following heavy rains in Uttrakhand. The move that has affected NCR is likely to hit Delhi too. The Bhagirathi and Sonia Vihar water plants in Delhi will also be affected as raw water supplied from the Ganga canal to Ghaziabad is further supplied to these two plants.
According to officials at the UP Jal Board, massive deposition of silt in the canal has forced the department to close the barrage gates.
“Owing to heavy rains in Uttrakhand, it has been decided to close the plant. Water supply to Ghaziabad and Noida, which has a daily demand of 360 million litres of Ganga water per day, has been totally stopped as the canal was closed to carry out de-silting work. We have informed the department concerned about this so that it could avoid the crisis,” said an official of the Water Department. He, however, said water supply would be resumed soon as de-silting work is over. It may be noted that the Ganga canal is the lifeline for close to 20 lakh residents of Ghaziabad and Noida.