Hold meeting over Kajauli water division: HC

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday directed Chandigarh and Punjab to hold a meeting by October 3 to arrive at a conclusion of the ongoing tussle regarding phases V and VI of the Kajauli water works.
They have also been asked to inform the court about the discussion through a status report by October 12, the next date of hearing.
In September last year, HC had asked UT and Punjab government to hold a meeting to resolve the issue.
However, when the matter came up for hearing on Friday, nobody filed any response on the issue. After that, the division bench headed by acting Chief Justice A K Goyal issued the order.
While Mohali is staking claim on the water from phases V and VI of Kajauli water works saying it is facing acute shortage, Chandigarh is stating that if it does not get the supply, there would be a deficit in availability here and UT would lose the grant of Rs 171 crore that Centre provided.
The matter had reached HC through a writ petition filed by Mohali councillor Kuljeet Singh Bedi seeking directions to expedite the construction of phases V and VI of the Kajauli water works, which would bring an additional 40 million gallons of water every day to Tricity.
Where its at
Kajauli water works plant is located on the Bhakra mainline (BML) canal near Morinda in district Ropar. It is supposed to provide water to Tricity and Chandimandir cantonment