The ongoing water crisis in Delhi has sparked protests, vandalism, and heated political exchanges across the Capital. On Sunday, unidentified individuals vandalised the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) office in Chhatarpur amid the severe water shortage while tensions also flared in the Dwarka, where a dispute over access to water from a common tap resulted in three people being injured and hospitalised at Indira Gandhi Hospital.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday accused the BJP workers of vandalising a Delhi Jal Board office during their protests over the water crisis in the national Capital. Sharing a video of the purported incident on X, AAP Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj wrote, “See the BJP leaders wearing sashes and workers shouting slogans in support of BJP leaders, destroying government property at the Delhi Jal Board office.”

Reacting to the Chhattarpur incident, former MP and BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri expressed empathy with the anger of the people but condemned the destruction of public property. “It is natural. The people can do anything when they are angry. I am grateful to the workers who controlled those people...It is the government’s and people’s property. There is no benefit in damaging this property.”

The incident occurred as Delhi is grappling with one of the worst water crises amid the boiling hot weather. The footage shared by on social media showed shattered window pane and broken earthen pots at the DJB office. There have been significant allegations against the AAP Government, where the protesters and the political parties are claiming that the senior officials, including some from the Delhi Government are running a “tanker mafia”. Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and Water Minister Atishi accused BJP leaders and workers of vandalising an office of the Delhi Jal Board.

Terming it a “conspiracy” against the Government, Bharadwaj shared a video showing some people breaking the windows of an office by hurling stones and earthern pots at it.

“See BJP leaders wearing party sashes and its workers raising slogans of BJP zindabad vandalising Government property at the Delhi Jal Board office. Who is getting pipelines broken at various places? Whose conspiracy is it?” he said in a post on X in Hindi.

Atishi  said at a Press conference that the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to trouble Delhi’s people. “The first part of the conspiracy was reducing Delhi’s water through its government in Haryana. Today (Sunday), the Wazirabad barrage is lying empty while the Munak canal is receiving less water,” the senior AAP leader alleged.

“Many parts of south Delhi did not receive water this morning because the main pipeline was intentionally broken yesterday (Saturday). Step two, breaking water pipelines and disrupting supply. Step three, which was revealed today, was the BJP sending goons to the Delhi Jal Board office to create ruckus,” she said.

The AAP government has been accusing the BJP-ruled Haryana of not releasing Delhi’s share of water.  The BJP lambasted the statements of Bharadwaj and Atishi condemning the protesters, and said this Kejriwal government is far from the reality. “There is no water supply for the past three days in South Delhi, that’s the reason people came out of their houses to protest,” BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP leaders and newly elected MPs staged a protest at 14 locations across the national capital to highlight the failure of the Arvind Kejriwal government. The BJP will also hold a protest on Monday.

The ongoing water supply crunch in the national Capital took centre stage with the water supply levels dropping to the season’s lowest level at 901 MGD-- a 10% drop from the normal levels.

BJP MP Harsh Malhotra accused the AAP government of corruption and mismanagement, claiming, “Delhi government is receiving enough water for the public of Delhi. The shortage that we are facing today is because of their corruption, non-planning, and non-action.”

In another incident, tensions also flared in the Dwarka , where a dispute over access to water from a common tap resulted in three people being injured and hospitalised at Indira Gandhi Hospital. The Delhi Police confirmed that two PCR calls were made regarding the incident, and cross-cases have been registered based on statements from both parties. They clarified that there was no communal angle to the conflict and that an investigation is underway.

In response to the escalating crisis, Delhi water minister Atishi wrote to Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, requesting the deployment of personnel to protect major water pipelines from potential sabotage. She said a recent incident involved deliberate damage to a key pipeline in South Delhi, exacerbating the water shortage.

A delegation of AAP MLAs led by Dilip Pandey met Union Jal Sakti Minister CR Patil and submitted a letter urging him to facilitate immediate relief by ensuring Haryana supplies water to Delhi.