Slamming the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for not addressing the “miserable hygiene and sanitary conditions” that he had flagged at the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant almost two months ago, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said “major” penalty proceedings are required to be initiated against all the officers named in the report submitted by the DJB.
“The role of other officers must be re-examined to ascertain any negligence on their part and action be taken,” he said, asking the DJB to furnish an action taken report (ATR) within 15 days. Meanwhile, Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj condemned L-G’s move and termed it as politically motivated. He said that Delhi LG's office for interfering with the functioning of the DJB despite it being out of his jurisdiction. According to a note issued by the LG Office, the DJB submitted a report to the chief secretary on April 6 without addressing the issue of water quality being supplied from the Wazirabad and Chandrawal Water Treatment Plants. The L-G said that despite his clear direction to expedite de-silting/ cleaning of the pondage area at Wazirabad Barrage, the timelines drawn not only reflectlack of urgency, it also does not fix accountably upon those concerned. “There is also no mention about the plans for upgradation of the WTP, which was desired to be taken on priority,” he said. In a fresh note to the chief secretary, the LG said: “It is again emphasised that providing potable drinking water of adequate standard to the citizens of Delhi is the foremost responsibility of the DJB, which should never be compromised. Any dereliction in this regard should be immediately identified and exemplary action initiated against the erring officers/officials.”
“However, from the conclusions, suggestions and actions proposed in the instant report, it is discerned that my concerns have not received the expected response. The reasoning adduced in respect of the grave lapses observed during my inspection are unacceptable,” he said.
After his visit, Saxena wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressing “deep distress” on the state of the Wazirabad water treatment plant (WTP) and feeder pondage area at Wazirabad Barrage, that feeds the Wazirabad and Chandrawal WTPs, following a visit earlier this week.
Seeking the CM’s “urgent intervention”, the L-G said the “miserable hygiene and sanitary conditions” at Wazirabad WTP, which supplies drinking water to large parts of the city, has an impact on its quality. Delhi gets around 40 per cent raw water from the Yamuna through Haryana and the rest from the Ganga from Uttar Pradesh, and Bhakra Nangal from Punjab.
The Wazirabad Barrage on the Yamuna in north Delhi is the primary holding area where raw water is lifted for Wazirabad and Chandrawal treatment plants. In the note, the L-G said that however, despite the urgency of the issue that involved threat to health and lives of lakhs of people dependent on water supply from the Wazirabad and Chandrawal WTPs, the Action Taken Report by the DJB has been found to be extremely shoddy and perfunctory, and does not even address the basic issues apart from not fixing responsibility and taking action against the guilty officials.
The L-G has accordingly written in his note to the Chief Secretary, “It is again emphasized that providing potable drinking water of adequate standard to the Citizens of Delhi is the foremost responsibility of DJB, which should never be compromised. Any dereliction in this regard should be immediately identified and exemplary action initiated against the erring officers/officials. However, from the conclusions/ suggestions/ actions proposed in the instant report, it is discerned that my concerns have not received the expected response.
The reasoning adduced in respect of the grave lapses observed during my inspection are unacceptable to say the very least.” As per the statement issued by the Water Minister, the LG is well aware of the fact that DJB is grappling with artificial shortage of funds created for some officers.
The problem has persisted for many months since officials of the finance department have been asking for voluminous information back and forth. DJB has not even received complete funds allocated by the government for the year 2021-22 due to never ending R&D being done by Principal Secretary finance from September 2022 at the cost of public service.”This conduct has been brought to the knowledge of LG by Legislative Assembly Committees, senior officials of the department in meetings as well through public forums.
It is hard to believe how Principal Secretary Finance is sitting over the budget which is duly approved by Cabinet and Legislative Assembly for welfare schemes of Delhi government,” the statement reads.
The Water Minister has highlighted how the LG is riding on boats with the media to take credit for the work of cleaning Yamuna initiated by the elected government but never interested in resolving issues under his jurisdiction, be it law and order, inefficiencies of DDA or Services matters.
