A brand new 40 MGD water treatment plant in Nangloi is lying defunct, without a drop of water to treat or supply. All thanks to the political war between the Haryana Chief Minister and Mandan Lal Khurana, who cannot quite give up the role of Delhi's guardian angel.

Yesterday, Haryana stopped releasing water from the Tajewala reservoir, effecting the requisite water level in Delhi's treatment plants, including Hyderpur. Bansi Lal made it clear Haryana would only release water on one condition the Delhi government should get the earlier Supreme Court order on Yamuna water sharing quashed. Under the order, the Haryana government is bound to release adequate water to Delhi for the Wazirabad and the Chandraval treatment plants and maintain canal supply at Hyderapur I&II.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, desperate to get the Nangloi plant working, is ready to give in to Haryana's demand. In fact, according to a senior bureaucrat, a letter to this effect has been sent to Bansi Lal.

But the deal is now in jeopardy, with Khurana threatening to go on a hunger strike if the Delhi government goes back on the Yamuna water agreement. The agreement was signed on June 12, 1994, when Khurana was Chief Minister.

``The agreement was signed at the behest of then Home Minister S.B. Chavan who mediated at the meeting which I had with Bhajan Lal, who was then Haryana Chief Minister. It was one of the main achievements of my government and the BJP in Delhi. I will never let any State government to go back on that hard-earned agreement,'' Khurana said.

Delhi has always had a raw deal, according to Khurana, because of a water-sharing agreement signed in 1964. Two junior engineers signed a proposed agreement in 1964 by which Haryana and UP would share Yamuna water in a 60-40 ratio with Delhi left high and dry. The agreement had no legal validity. ``This anomaly was detected in '94, when I was Chief Minister. We organised a five-CMs meet in which Haryana agreed to give us 4.6 per cent of the total flow in the river,'' he said.

But the Haryana government went back on its word. A case was filed in the Supreme Court which directed Haryana to release Delhi's share of Yamuna water. ``But it took a contempt of court notice to Bhajan Lal to get him to do so,'' Khurana said.

Bhajan Lal had to face brickbats from the opposition parties in Haryana for signing the deal. And, according to Khurana, Haryana has been trying to pull out of the agreement ever since.

``They tried to pressurise Sushma Swaraj when she was the Chief Minister. I had written to her that we had our (BJP) government in the Centre and a party in power in Haryana who is our ally, so we will be able to get a deal in our favour,'' Khurana said.

The Delhi government, however, never followed up the other part of the agreement, by which a concrete channel was to be built from Munak to Hyderpur, to supply the water Delhi was to buy from the Beas Management Board for its Nangoloi treatment plant.

Delhi was to pay Rs 80 crore for the channel to be built on Haryana land. The first installment of Rs 5 crore was paid, but construction has not yet begun. Totally foxed by the development, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today laid the blame for the city's water crisis at the door of the Central government in the Assembly.

Dikhsit said she had met Home Minister L.K. Advani and the Prime Minister in this regard. ``Though they both assured me that they would take up the matter with Haryana government, nothing has been done so far. I even wrote a letter to the PM after my meeting with him, but there has been no reply,'' she said.

With a whole of band of MLAs breathing down her neck, it is not going to be easy for Dikshit to cut a side deal with Bansi Lal. More so because Khurana sees this as potential ``come-back issue'' which can revive his political fortune.