“Bombay is under water, Delhi has no water”, Supreme Court laments at looming water crisis

The Supreme Court today rebuked the Centre and the Delhi government for failing to take any action even in the wake of an impending water crisis that is likely to grip Delhi in the next two years..A Bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta was hearing a PIL filed by MC Mehta relating to unauthorised construction in Delhi. During the previous hearing, the issue of declining groundwater level in Delhi was brought up..The Court had asked the Delhi Government, Delhi pollution Board and the Ministry of Water Resources to make recommendations on how to tackle the situation. A report by The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) was placed before the Court along with a NITI Aayog report..After going through the NITI Aayog report which hinted at various civic bodies washing their hands off the critical issue, Justice Lokur, visibly displeased at the Centre and Delhi government passing the buck, angrily remarked,.“Everybody has to be blamed in this country except the person-in-charge.”.Addressing the Counsel for Centre and Delhi Government, Justice Lokur said,.“You are not able to tackle pollution, garbage or water… This is what you have left Delhi to become. It is in a critical state now.”.ASG Atmaram Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre placed the recommendations made by the CGWB before the Court. Browsing through the suggestions made by the CGWB, Justice Lokur made his displeasure amply clear and said,.“The recommendations made here says ground water in Delhi is overexploited… Anybody on the road can tell you this. You don’t need an expert to tell you this.”.Looking at the first recommendation made in the report which stated that water is a State subject, Justice Lokur resorted to sarcasm to drive his displeasure home..“What an excellent suggestion!”.In what was the most scathing remark from the entire hearing, Justice Lokur said that these recommendations read like an essay written by a school child..“These recommendations are like a school child has written an essay on the water problem in Delhi. These are the kind of ‘experts’ we have which is why we are facing this problem.”.ASG Nadkarni quoted a NITI Ayog report which stated that certain cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi will reach a zero groundwater situation by 2020. Reacting to this submission, Justice Lokur said,.“By then, all the people in Delhi will already be dead because of no water.”.Taking note of the problematic environmental and water situation faced by cities across the country, Justice Lokur rued,.“Bombay is under water, Delhi has no water… There’s no water even in Shimla… your report says there is freshwater potential in Yamuna but there is no Yamuna left”.Justice Deepak Gupta told Nadkarni that there needs to be a concrete plan for immediate steps to be taken for ensuring reduction of consumption of water and ways to ensure groundwater is preserved..The Court adjourned the matter and on Nadkarni’s request, the Bench set a date for four months from now to which, Justice Lokur said,.“Okay, that is one month closer to 2020.”