Already, parts of south, central Delhi hit by water crisis

Already, parts of south, central Delhi hit by water crisis

NEW DELHI: Several parts of New Delhi, mainly south and central parts of the city, have started facing water supply problems before the full fury of summer. Residents in Lajpat Nagar, Sukhdev Vihar, Greater Kailash and some parts of central Delhi have been getting either dirty or inadequate quantity of water.

“Summers are here, and water problems have started. The situation has become bad just when the season has started. We pay bills and taxes but in the end what we get is just a blame game between Haryana and Delhi government,” said Vinayak Malik, the secretary of the Sukhdev Vihar Welfare Association.

This is not the only case, residents in O-Block, Lajpat Nagar-2, have alleged that they are supplied dirty water. “We have noticed a change in the taste and odour of the water. It has a foul smell and a strange taste,” a letter from the resident welfare association in Lajpat Nagar-2 said.

For the last several days, the DJB has faced water treatment problems at its Wazirabad plant which caters to south and central Delhi.

“Every day, we spend around Rs 400 just on packaged water because there is just no water supply in our bathrooms and kitchens,” Ridhima Sharma, a resident of GK N-Block, said.

Earlier this month, DJB vice-chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the water being supplied from Haryana side had reduced drastically. This had affected water treatment capacity at Wazirabad. According to the DJB, illegal sand mining is going on in Haryana, near Tajewala barrage, and polluted water is being diverted to Wazirabad.

According to DJB officials, the Wazirabad plant produces 131 million gallons of treated water daily. Now, due to the shortage of water in the Yamuna, the plant is working at 75% capacity.

“A shortage of 25% has a huge impact on the supply network in south and central Delhi…. We are trying our best to resolve such water problems,” a DJB official told TOI.

NDMC member Kuljeet Chahal on Friday highlighted the water supply problem at a press conference.

He said that in the last 15 days, the supply has gone down by 65%. “Lutyens’ Delhi has started facing the crisis. Water from DJB over the past 15 days is about a third of the quantity prescribed for an NDMC area.” He said that hospitals like AIIMS and Safdarjung, schools, Supreme Court, Parliament, President’s house and the PM’s house are also facing the crisis.