Amid a severe water crisis in Delhi, women protestors have vandalised the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) office in Chattarpur. The latest attack on the water management body came on Sunday as the national capital has been reeling in the worst water crisis amid the record-breaking hot weather. The BJP staged a protest against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the water crisis in the national capital. There have been significant allegations against the AAP government, where the protestors and the political parties are claiming that the senior officials including some from the Delhi government are running a “tanker mafia”.
Launching a vitriolic attack on the AAP, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that Delhi Jal Board was in a profit of crores of rupees when Arvind Kejriwal became the chief minister. “He was given charge of the DJB as chairman for over one year. It is strange that audit report of that more than one year is missing and the DJB is in huge debt,” he said. Sachdeva alleged that all AAP ministers are stealing water and running tanker mafia in Delhi.
Scary visuals of residents chasing water tanker vans are already hitting the headlines on television and social media platforms.
Delhi minister Atishi asks police to guard water pipelines
Earlier today, Delhi Water Minister Atishi on Sunday wrote to Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora requesting the deployment of personnel for patrolling and protecting major pipelines for the next 15 days, as the national capital grapples with a water crisis. In her letter, the minister said Delhi is reeling under a severe heat wave and a water crisis. “Due to shortage of water being received in the Yamuna, water production has fallen by around 70 MGD and many parts of Delhi are experiencing water shortage. In this situation, every drop of water becomes precious,” the letter said.
The Delhi Jal Board has deployed patrol teams for the main water distribution network that carries raw water to the Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) and then from them to the main underground reservoirs in different parts of the city, Atishi said in the letter. “In addition, we have deployed teams under the supervision of ADMs to support in this work. ” The minister said that on Saturday the DJB’s ground patrolling team reported a major leakage in its south Delhi Rising Mains — the main water pipeline that carries water from Sonia Vihar WTP to south Delhi.
“This was near the DTL substation in Garhi Medhu. Our patrolling team found that several large 375 mm bolts and one 12-inch bolt had been cut from the pipeline causing the leakage.
The fact that several large bolts had been cut seems to indicate foul play and sabotage,” the letter read. Atishi requested Arora to deploy police patrol and protect the city’s major pipelines for the next 15 days and prevent “miscreants or people with ulterior motives” from tampering with water pipelines.
“At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi,” she wrote. About the pipeline that was damaged, she said a maintenance team worked for six hours in one stretch and repaired the leak.”… but this meant that we had to stop pumping of water for 6 hours and 20 MGD of water was not pumped during this time.
As a consequence a further 25% of water shortage will be experienced in South Delhi,” the minister said.
(With inputs from agency)
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