Amid a crippling water crisis in the national capital, Delhi water minister Atishi claimed that DJB teams found water supply pipelines damaged in some areas. In response, Atishi has written a letter to the city’s police, demanding protection for the pipelines against potential sabotage attempts. Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a protest against the AAP government on Sunday, criticizing it for the ongoing water shortage.
Atishi claimed that the Delhi Jal Board’s patrolling team found signs of sabotage on pipelines at several locations. In a letter to Delhi police commissioner Sanjay Arora, Atishi wrote, “I am writing to request the deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days to stop miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with water pipelines, which have now become Delhi’s lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi.”
She claimed that DJB teams found water supply pipelines damaged in some places.
“Yesterday, our ground patrolling team reported a major leakage in our 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.
Atishi claimed that due to the damage, a large quantity of water couldn’t be supplied to the people of Delhi, exacerbating the crisis.
She demanded that the police protect Delhi’s major pipelines for the next 15 days. “I am writing to request the deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days. This would be crucial to stop miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with our water pipelines, which have now become Delhi’s lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi,” she added.
Meanwhile, BJP MP from West Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, along with other party workers, held a protest in Najafgarh against the Delhi government.
We have been receiving calls from Dwarka RWAs, and residents have been coming to meet us with complaints of water shortage. Private water tankers are costing them a lot of money, and they are unable to avail themselves of government tankers. The pipes that I inspected today are broken, causing a lot of water to be wasted. The Delhi government is blaming other state governments for the water shortage, whereas the problem lies within their own department. I request Atishi, not on humanitarian grounds, but as a minister in the Delhi government, to take care of her department,” Kamaljeet Sehrawat stated.
AAP MLAs
AAP MLAs reached the house of Union Jal Shakti minister, CR Patil, today to request his intervention in resolving the water crisis. “We wrote a letter to him yesterday and tried to reach out through mail, SMS, and WhatsApp to ask for an appointment. Someone received our letter yesterday, but when we came here today, we were told he is not at his residence. We don’t know what the truth is. However, we want the Central government to intervene in this situation and give the responsibility of interstate coordination to CR Patil,” said AAP MLA Dilip Pandey.
Last week, Atishi appealed to Haryana to discharge additional water into the Yamuna river on humanitarian grounds, claiming a shortage of 70 million gallons per day (MGD) in the national capital due to the scarcity of raw water. The normal water production of around 1,002 MGD in Delhi on June 6 dropped to 932 MGD on Friday due to the lack of raw water.
BJP claims Arvind Kejriwal is responsible for the water crisis. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP government are responsible, attributing the crisis to water theft and wastage. BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj mentioned that she is forced to pressure DJB officials for water tankers. “Every single day, I get calls from my constituency. I have to incessantly pressure DJB officials to send tankers and ensure water is available to people. AAP doesn’t have the intent to work. In their 10 years of rule, they have reduced the DJB from ₹600 crore profit to a loss of ₹73,000 crore,” she stated.
