Emphasizing on rationalizing distribution of water in the national Capital, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday identified water scarcity as the biggest challenge that Delhi is facing. She cautioned that the situation may worsen in the next five years if concrete steps to address the issue are not taken.
Speaking during an event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Dikshit also identified housing as another challenge and exhorted the private sector to come up with low cost housing for the common man.
She added that the issue of water scarcity needs to be addressed immediately and urged industry leaders to help the government in overcoming the challenge.
“We will face great trouble in the next five to seven years if we do not address the issue. We will have to seriously address the issue. We are emphasising on rationalising distribution of water because the per capita consumption of water in Delhi is the highest in the country, probably one of the highest in the world. The per capita consumption is 272 litres of water. This is wastage,” Dikshit said.
Terming Delhi as the ‘nerve centre’ for growth, she cited housing as another challenge due to which the city is unable to compete with other capital cities across the world.
She added that though the government’s focus has been to strengthen the public transport system, it requires further.
The Chief Minister also spoke about multiplicity of authorities and said despite the ‘hurdles’, her government could perform and make Delhi a better place to live in. Noting that solid waste disposal is another major problem, Dikshit sought help of the private sector in finding a solution to it.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also attended the function. Speaking at the function, he said, “With industry’s support and investments, we can create many more cities like Gurgaon across the State. The Kundli-Manesar-Plawal (KMP) Expressway will facilitate seamless connectivity and a global corridor is also planned en route the 135 km expressway. To establish Haryana as a manufacturing hub, the State government is focussing on cluster-based manufacturing,” he said.
Talking on the policy initiatives, he informed that Haryana was the first State to launch a structured State labour Policy in 2006 to maintain industrial peace and harmony.