As scorching summer sets in a bit early with mercury higher 30s in mid March, the national Capital has “witnessed” water scarcity situation. Residents of central and South Delhi on Sunday complained about poor water supply. The affected areas are mainly Defence Colony, Amar Colony, Karol Bagh and Moti Bagh areas.
leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said the Aam Admi Party (AAP) is not ready with the Summer Action Plan.
Citing the example of death of an elderly man in fight over water in Wazirpur Industrial Area, Gupta told The Pioneer that situations take a turn for the worse in the Capital. He also asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal how he will arrange distribution of drinking water for whole of Delhi during summer.
A 60-year-old man, identified as lal Bahadur, was thrashed to death on Saturday evening over the issue of fetching water from a tanker in Wazirpur Industrial Area.
“The Delhi Government has not prepared any roadmap for distribution of potable water. Delhi requires a total of 1,100 MGD of water but the total treatment capacity of Delhi Jal Board is merely 800 MGD. Even available capacity of treating water is not utilised due to poor performance of machines,” he added.
He said that water mafia steals water through the piped water supply system. “In areas where there is no supply of piped water, the Government supplies water through tankers,” said Gupta.
Gupta also alleged that the DJB water is also sold by the mafia in collusion with the officials. “The Government is aware of water theft, yet it has not formulated any concrete plan to prevent the same,” Gupta said.