The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the Haryana government over the Munak canal water sharing dispute.
A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul sought a response from the Haryana resident commissioner in Delhi.
The court noted that over 80 MGD of water is being lost every day because of seepage as the water is being transported through a katchcha canal instead of the concrete Munak canal.
It also said that it is "tragic" that the issue has not been resolved while citizens are deprived of water.
The court's direction came on a PIL asking for commissioning of the new Munak canal.
The PIL filed by housing societies in Dwarka sought direction to the Delhi Jal Board and the government to solve the water crisis faced by them.
The bench would hear the matter Nov 26.
The Munak canal-Haidarpur pipeline was expected to meet the needs of the area by supplying raw water for treatment which would then be supplied to the parched area.
The Munak canal was built by Haryana with financial assistance of around Rs 400 crore from the Delhi government on the condition that the national capital will be supplied water from it.
Haryana has opposed any water-sharing, saying it has been generously providing water to its neighbour even though the demand in the state has gone up in recent years.
Construction work on the 102-km canal between Munak on the Haryana border and Haiderpur in Delhi has been almost completed.
The canal has been constructed to stop loss of water through leakages in various existing canals.
