Delhi Water Crisis: Ten Million of People Affected by Jat Quota Protest

Ten million of people in Delhi, India, are without water despite the army regaining control of its key water source after protests, officials say.

According to officials, it would take “three to four days” before normal supplies resumed to affected areas.

Jat community protesters demanding more government jobs seized the Munak canal, Delhi’s main water source on February 19.

Sixteen people have been killed and hundreds hurt in three days of riots.

The Munak canal supplies around three-fifths of water to Delhi’s 16 million residents.

Schools in the city were also closed after supplies from the canal were sabotaged during the protests.

The army took control of parts of the canal on February 22, but repairs are expected to take time.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that the army was “trying to assess in how much time water would reach Delhi and whether any damage had been done to the canal”.

Protesters went on the rampage despite a curfew and the deployment of the army, which is reported to have opened fire on them in the districts of Rohtak and Jhajjar.

Haryana state minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the situation was returning to normal, traffic had resumed on national highways and that railway lines between Delhi and the cities of Jaipur and Chandigarh had reopened.

Ram Bilas Sharma also confirmed that the government would introduce a bill on reservations and quotas for the Jat community in the next assembly session, although he did not say when that would be.

Meanwhile, India’s federal government has said it will set up a top-level committee to look into the grievances of Jats.

The violence had earlier forced the closure of several key roads and national highways, and paralyzed the railway system in northern India.