Delhi’s water crisis ends, Jats call off protest (Third Lead)

NEW DELHI/GHAZIABAD - The water crisis that had gripped the Indian capital ended Monday after Jats in Uttar Pradesh demanding job quotas called off a protest during which they cut off water to Delhi.

Leaders of the Jat community in Ghaziabad district bordering the capital announced the end of their crippling protest saying the central government had promised to talk to them. Jat Arakshhan Sangharsh Samiti president Yash Pal Singh Malik said the water supply was restored at about 1.30 p.m.

“A 12-member team has gone to Delhi to discuss the demands with the Social Justice Secretary Sangeeta Gahrotra and Additional Secretary K.M. Acharya,” Malik told IANS.

“If the government backs out from the stand of granting reservation, we will launch another protest and in the next phase we will not allow the government to conduct the Commonwealth Games in Delhi,” he said.

He said the water supply was restored after Ghaziabad District Magistrate R. Ramesh Kumar convinced the social justice secretary to meet the protesters.

Santosh Vaidya, additional chief executive officer in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), told IANS: “The central government was requested to look into the matter as it was an inter-state issue.”

He said the Jats who had cut off supplies to two water treatment plants in the capital had now released fresh water.

“The two pipelines will be refilled within three hours. There will be no water crisis for Delhiites,” Vaidya said.

The Jat community in Ghaziabad is seeking job quotas and reservation in educational institutions.

Earlier, the Delhi government pleaded with Haryana to supply water to its Sonia Vihar water treatment plant. The request was withdrawn following the Jat decision.

The Ghaziabad administration held discussions with Jat leaders early in the day after people in south and east Delhi were hit hard by the water crisis.

“Our community agitated because we were not given reservation in central government services,” Jat Arakshhan Sangharsh Samiti president Malik said.

On Sunday, the Jats organised a public meeting at a college in Muradnagar town. At about 4.30 p.m., the panchayat decided to stop the water supply to the capital.

The leaders then went to the water treatment plant at Abupur and closed the gates from where water flows to the Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi plants that serve about 40 percent of Delhi’s water needs.