Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, on Friday, sought detailed reports from Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials on sewerage and water networks existing in the city within 10 days.
Sisodia, who is likely to be the chairperson of the water utility, held marathon meetings with the DJB on Friday wherein he insisted that the city has water, but the problem was in the distribution system. In most likelihood, Delhiites can expect the “lifeline
water scheme” of the AAP Government once the Delhi Assembly session gets over on February 24.
First, Sisodia reviewed the water situation in the Capital with top officials of the water utility. DJB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vijay Kumar along with its other members gave presentations to him. Sources said apart from the water supply network, he was also updated with issues related to the sewerage network in the Capital. The CEO put forward a detailed presentation on the funds required for its major projects. These included the Sewerage Master Plan which aims to provide sewerage facility to unsewered areas in the coming 10 years, implementation of which would require Rs20,000 crore. Another Rs4,000 crore is required to implement orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), while Rs700 crore for the ongoing Sewer Interceptor project, were stated by the water utility, to name a few.
later in the day, Sisodia also met executive engineers of all the 23 divisions of the DJB, among other senior officials. Sisodia has given all the engineers the task of coming with a detailed report which would map the sewerage and water network in their command areas.
“DJB officials have been asked to submit reports from their respective areas within 10 days. The mapping should highlight points where there is sewerage overflow,” said a Delhi Government official. Statistics with the Delhi Government suggest that over 50 lakh people in the city do not get piped water supply and over 42 lakh people are not connected to the city’s sewage system.
The Aam Aadmi Party Government, which had worked on the manifesto, has a clear view that there is enough water in the Capital which could be supplied to every household in the city. “The problem lies in two things. Firstly, we have a faulty distribution system and then the billing system is not foolproof. The DJB is losing more than Rs1,000 crore annually due to mismanagement and corruption,” said another official.