India, Oct. 23 -- New Delhi

More water is being released directly into the Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage, instead of routing them to the eastern and western canals as usual, in a bid to improve the water quality ahead of the Chhath Puja, according to data from the Central Water Commission (CWC). Since 5pm on Tuesday, no water has been diverted to either canal, the data showed.

As of Tuesday evening, the water inflow was 130.2 cumecs, all of which was released downstream. A minimum environmental flow (e-flow) of 10 cumecs is required to be released downstream for Delhi, but this flow remained consistently above 100 cumecs since 5pm on Tuesday. The highest hourly release was 293.81 cumecs, recorded at 7pm on Tuesday.

To be sure, the...