Delhi water woes: BJP continues protests; AAP calls it ‘BJP sponsored crisis’
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva during a protest against the Delhi government over the ongoing water crisis in the national capital at Geeta Colony in East Delhi on Monday.
With the national Capital facing a water supply shortage during the ongoing heatwave conditions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued its protest against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government across the city for the second consecutive day on Monday.
The BJP MPs, MLAs and the party’s state chief Virendra Sachdeva participated in the protests held at 52 locations across the city, including the AAP and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) offices, where protesters broke earthen pots to highlight the water crisis.
While the BJP accused the city government of poor water management, the AAP alleged that the water shortage in Delhi was a “BJP sponsored” crisis.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the BJP wants to take political mileage by ensuring that people of Delhi don’t get water.
“BJP through its Haryana government is decreasing raw water supply for Delhi, pipelines are being damaged and then protests are being carried out at DJB offices,” he said.
Taking part in the protest at Block-8 Geeta Colony in Krishna Nagar, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said, “People are not getting sufficient water because of rampant water theft and wastage. Instead of working to fix the water leakages and thefts, the AAP is making allegations on people pointing towards its failures.”
At another such protest in Karol Bagh area, BJP MP from North West Delhi Yogender Chandolia said that the AAP is putting fake allegations on BJP that its MPs are not active. “The Delhi government has completely failed. All BJP MPs are on ground. Where are their Rajya Sabha MPs and 62 MLAs? People of Delhi want water supply from them, and they are trying to divert the attention from real issues,” he added.
Addressing a press confernece on the issue, Sanjay Singh said, “BJP is trying various schemes and plots to deepen the water crisis in Delhi. Delhi gets water from Haryana and our fixed allocated water is not being provided to us which is leading to shortages.”.
He said that Delhi had been getting 1,002 million gallons per day (MGD) water till June 6, which came down to 919 MGD on June 11, making it unable to meet the water demand of the city. “At a time when Delhi is reeling with water supply shortage, BJP is busy damaging the pipelines and carrying out vandalism and protests at DJB offices. The seven new elected MPs from BJP should raise voice for people of Delhi. They should meet the Union Jal Shakti minister. They are instead busy terrorising DJB officers. How will the water be supplied if the offices of DJB are shut down and employees are unable to work,” he alleged.
He added the BJP should hold protest at the houses of Haryana chief minister and Union jal shakti minister so that additional water can be released for Delhi.
Delhi’s water supply plunged to its lowest this season on Sunday reaching 901 MGD— a 10% shortfall from the targeted supply of 1,000 MGD—, aggravating nearly a fortnight-long crisis the Capital has been facing. The Monday bulletin shows that there is a slight improvement in the water supply with DJB managing to supply 916 MGD of water-- up by 15 MGD from Sunday. The targeted water production for summer in the city is 1,000 MGD and the estimated demand is 1,290 MGD. The primary reason of shortfall is less availability of raw water.
Between June 11 and 17, the water supply levels were 958.26 MGD, 919.70 MGD (due to power outages due to blackout), 951 MGD, 939.75 MGD, 934 MGD, 901 MGD and 916 MGD, respectively. The AAP-led Delhi government has blamed Haryana for the raw water supply shortfall — an allegation the Haryana government has refuted saying the Delhi government was trying to hide “its failures”.
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