Almost six years and Rs. 414 crore later, Delhi and Haryana are still wrangling over the Munak canal and the water that it was supposed to bring to the Capital. The impediments that got in the way included environmental clearances, monetary disagreements and bickering over how much water Haryana is supposed to release for Delhi.

The latest stand-off is over the release of 80 MGD of water that Delhi claims it should get apart from what is being released and Haryana's demand for the release of Rs.106 crore.

Lack of rainwater harvesting finishing many resources

A large water body at Dhulsiras village in South-West Delhi is an example of what a water body should not be. Littered with plastics and other refuse, moss-covered and encroached on all sides, this water body is also an example of poor management and utter neglect. “It was a fairly large water body but residents gradually began to fill it up and to create more space for their houses and cattle, and whatever remains of it today is used as a littering bin,” said Rakesh Kumar, a resident of a nearby village and a volunteer with non-government organisation Natural Heritage First.

A variety of birds flock the recovered stream within 48 hours

For the past couple of weeks Rakesh Kumar with his borrowed binoculars and relentless patience has been busy tracking and keeping record of the varieties and number of birds that have begun to flock to a small water body inside a park in Dwarka's Pochanpur village. The water body that has become home to the winged visitors has been revived in a park maintained by the Delhi Development Authority.

The small village in North-West Delhi with a population of about 11,000 has been seeking consolidation of the land holdings and increasing the “Lal Dora” limits to create more space for villagers to build their houses. The villagers also do not have any proof of land ownership.

In the absence of consolidation and the expansion of Lal Dora, several villagers who have no land earmarked for residential purposes have been forced to construct houses on agricultural land, which is illegal.

Company proposes to introduce a new “reliability charge”

In an attempt to quell the bickering over the need to raise power tariffs, power distribution company Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited has come out with a clarification that if its demand for an increase in power charges is met in the soon-to-be-announced tariff order, it will scale down the requirement to raise tariff in the successive years.

Delhiites will have to pay more for power from this month, particularly in the areas under the BRPL and the BYPL, and this hike is independent of the new tariff structure that is still being worked out.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission on Wednesday agreed to a “fuel price adjustment surcharge” for the power distribution companies TPDDL, BRPL and BYPL in the range of 4 to 7 per cent, scrapping the 5 per cent provisional surcharge introduced in February.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has upgraded the requirements for star rating of split room air-conditioners. The statutory body under the Union Power Ministry on Wednesday announced that it has upgraded the requirements for star rating.

In a statement here, the BEE said the legislation came into effect in January this year and raised the energy efficiency standards by about 8 per cent for split air-conditioners for the same rating band. The change is intended to help raise consumer awareness on saving energy and creating more energy efficient appliances across the spectrum for this industry, the Bureau claimed.

‘Production has fallen to about 30 per cent of the scheduled capacity'

The city's gas based power plants have scaled down production, compelled to do so in the absence of the required quantum of gas. A case in point being the power distribution company Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited's Rithala plant and the Government's 1500 MW Bawana plant that is yet to contribute to the city's power supply.

Dismiss discoms' claim; accuse regulator of inaction

The mood was belligerent at a public hearing organised by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission here on Thursday to assess consumer feedback before finalising the new power tariff. Reacting to the discoms' demands for a power tariff hike, angry consumers not only dismissed their claims but also expressed dismay over what they alleged was DERC's “inaction”.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has written to Union Water Resources Minister P. K. Bansal to fast track the Renuka Dam project. The Chief Minister has expressed concern that further stalling of the project will jeopardise the city's water security. The dam has been proposed on the Giri River in Himachal Pradesh and is expected to provide Delhi 275 million gallons of water a day.

Delhi has been pressing the Centre for its intervention to secure clearances for the Renuka Dam project, claiming it is the only source of water for the city's future use. “There are limited sources of water for the city; and Renuka Dam is the primary source that assures water for the future needs.