New Delhi : Veteran BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Saturday quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He made the announcement at the opposition rally at Patna. The leader said democracy is under threat and slammed the Modi-led NDA government.

Of late, Sinha had been repeatedly firing salvos at the Centre.

Faridabad : The Faridabad Municipal Corporation (MC) has sealed over a dozen unauthorised tubewells used for illegally supplying water in the city.
The civic body has also sought help from the police department to curb illegal plying of water tankers here.

As per official estimates, there are 250 unauthorised water tankers here, but unofficially, these number around 1,500.

“The private water tanker mafia has been existent for the past several decades due to shortage of drinking water in a large number of residential colonies. They charge between Rs 500 and Rs 800 per tanker depending upon the location. The rates are low in winter, but they double in summer,” said an MC employee.

The private watersuppliers have reportedly dug up borewells to supply the water.
Mohammed Shayin, Commissioner, MC, said 110 illegal tubewells would be closed permanently.

He said five tubewells were being sealed daily and the MC had already hired adequate number of tankers to supply water in the areas facing shortage, especially during summer.

The demand for water has gone up to 490 million litres a day (MLD) against the supply of just 290 MLD at present.

The officials concerned were directed to curb the activity during a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister during his visit to the city recently.

Panipat : Wheat crop on nearly 300 acres and stubble on nearly 400 acres in Kalkha, Bhadar and Brahman Majra villages of the district were destroyed in fire on Friday afternoon.

Balwan, husband of Kalkha sarpanch Saroj Rani, said the fire started from Brahman Majra village due to high-velocity winds and it destroyed wheat crop on 250 acres and stubbles on nearly 125 acres in the village.

He said the fire destroyed the wheat crops of 60 farmers of the village. “From Brahman Majra, the fire spread to Kalkha and Bhadar villages within minutes and destroyed the crop in all three villages,” he said.

Scores of residents of the three villages started cultivating the land to prevent spread of the flames to other fields, but to no avail due to high-speed winds. Reena Rani, sarpanch of Bhadar village, said fire destroyed wheat on nearly 35 acres.

Girdawari ordered

Chandigarh : Revenue Minister Capt Abhimanyu has ordered special girdawari of damage caused to wheat due to fire. The compensation would be awarded to farmers as per the policy of the state government, he added.

Raipur : An officer of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer was killed in a gunfight with the Maoists in a dense forest in the insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, the police said on Saturday.

The gunfight took place last night in Kistaram police station area when a team of CRPF’s 212th battalion was out on a search-cum-area domination operation, Deputy Inspector General of Police (South Bastar Range) Sundarraj P told.

“Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Anil Kumar Maurya was killed in the incident,” he said.

The deceased was a native of Madhya Pradesh.

Security forces have launched a combing operation in the area, located around 500 km away from the state capital Raipur, he added.

New Delhi : Piqued at wrangling between bureaucrats of Delhi and Haryana over supply of water to the National Capital, the Supreme Court on Thursday summoned their chief secretaries to appear before it on Monday.
“People are dying. But no urgency is being shown by you people,” said a Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur, who took a strong note on the apathy shown by the authorities concerned in dealing with the water crisis in the National Capital.
It directed the two senior bureaucrats to appear before it in person on April 23 after the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said it was not receiving enough water to supply to Delhi residents.

The Delhi government has been in talks with Haryana for the release of 450 cusecs of water from the Yamuna daily for the National Capital.
Last month, the DJB had moved the top court seeking a direction to Haryana to release 450 cusecs of water per day meant for the Wazirabad reservoir in Delhi. Haryana was supplying 120 cusecs less water, the DJB alleged.

In its petition, the DJB had accused Haryana of reducing the supply of water to the Wazirabad reservoir by one-third, leading to a serious water crisis in the National Capital. The Haryana government was violating the 1996 top court order regarding supply of water, it alleged.

Haryana was supplying only 330 cusecs of water per day to Delhi as against 450 cusecs per day agreed upon between the two sides. While Delhi’s population had increased phenomenally over the years, there had not been a commensurate rise in the water supply, the DJB had submitted.

Due to drop in water level in the Yamuna, water treatment plants either stopped functioning or were running on below capacity, the DJB said accusing Haryana of releasing polluted water which could not be treated. As a result, the DJB was rationing water supply, causing water shortage in large parts of Delhi, it submitted.
The DJB said the situation was likely to get worse with the onset of summer and rising demand for drinking water.

“Delhi is in the midst of an acute water crisis owing to stopping of supply of water by Haryana from the Yamuna, which is meant for drinking purposes in Delhi. It is most respectfully submitted that Haryana is defying the directions of this court to supply drinking water at Wazirabad reservoir and is taking undue advantage of being an upper riparian state,” read the DJB plea.

“It has converted the river leading to Delhi into a dry river having virtually no water at Delhi and resultantly stoppage of supply meant for drinking water for treatment at Wazirabad reservoir. As otherwise, the coming summer in Delhi is going to see a huge water crisis,” it had said, demanding a daily monitoring of water quantity and the quality at the barrage by an independent agency.

Delhi and Haryana had on Monday accused each other in the SC over minutes of a meeting on the issue. The Bench had asked the Central Government counsel to seek instructions from the Secretary of the ministry and get back. It had also asked the Delhi government to make a formal request to Haryana for 150 cusecs of water.
Delhi Jal Board’s plea

Haryana has reduced the supply of water to the Wazirabad reservoir by one-third, leading to a serious water crisis in the National Capital

Haryana has been violating the 1996 top court order regarding the supply of water
Haryana supplying only 330 cusecs of water per day to Delhi as against 450 cusecs per day agreed upon between the two sides