Leaders and workers of the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) and Congress staged a protest near Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence in the Civil Lines area on Friday over the water crisis in the national Capital.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Kumar Gupta, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and others first gathered at the Chandgi Ram Akhara near Ring Road and then marched towards the CM's residence on Flagstaff Road. The protesters were stopped around 500 metres from the Chief Minister's house by police, a BJP leader said.
Addressing the gathering, Gupta alleged that schemes for water production and distribution announced in the last seven years have not yet started. The Delhi Government is responsible for the water crisis in the city as it is in connivance with the tanker mafia, the BJP leader claimed.
The Delhi Government, which came to power with the promise to finish the tanker mafia in the city, is now minting money in connivance with them. Piped water supply is not being given in Delhi colonies so that the tanker mafia could flourish," Gupta said. The Delhi government has been blaming Haryana for the shortage of water in the city over the last few days.
Leader of opposition in Delhi assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that whatever promises Kejriwal had made with regard to water, power, education, transport have not been fulfilled at all. “The AAP government promised to bring raw water from Himachal and from Muradabad respectively but nothing has happened on this till date,” he said.
A large number of Congress workers also demonstrated outside the chief minister’s residence under the leadership of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Kumar. The Congress workers assembled at the Parmanand Hospital, Civil Lines before marching towards the CM’s residence.
Kumar said that for the past two months, Delhiites have been bearing with severe water shortage but the Delhi Chief Minister has been touring other States and promising “free power and water” though he has not been able to address the water shortage in Delhi for the past seven years.