Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs visited the residence of Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Paatil to address the issue of Haryana’s BJP government withholding Delhi’s rightful share of water on Sunday morning. Led by Chief Whip (ruling party) in Delhi Legislative Assembly and MLA Shri Dilip Pandey, the delegation submitted a letter urging the Union Minister for Jal Shakti to facilitate immediate relief by ensuring Haryana supplies water to Delhi. Shri Dilip Pandey emphasized the urgency of the crisis, noting that the water level in the Yamuna is declining, which is exacerbating the situation amid Delhi’s scorching heat. He also criticized the political maneuvering surrounding the issue, asserting that the AAP and Delhi government are focused on practical solutions. The delegation included former minister Shri Rajendra Pal Gautam, Smt. Rakhi Birla, Shri Durgesh Pathak, and other MLAs.
Senior AAP leader and MLA Shri Dilip Pandey said that the water crisis inside Delhi is getting serious every moment. Due to the falling water level of Yamuna, the production of water in Delhi is decreasing. Due to this, the supply of water is being reduced in many areas. There is severe heat and in this scorching heat, water is life. Water crisis means life crisis.
He said that all the MLAs of the AAP wrote a letter to Union Water Power Minister Shri C.R. Paatil on Saturday, emailed, and messaged all his public and personal phone numbers and told him that there is a serious water crisis inside Delhi. This problem can be solved with a little coordination from you.
Shri Dilip Pandey said that the people of Delhi are troubled due to the shortage of water. The Himachal government is ready to give water to Delhi, but the state of Haryana is coming in between, through which water will come to Delhi. Therefore, inter-state coordination is necessary.
“Shri C.R. Paatil is a responsible person in the central government and is the minister of the Jal Shakti Department. Therefore, the people of Delhi expect Shri C.R. Paatil says that if he plays the role of a guardian and does inter-state coordination, then two crore people of Delhi will get water in this scorching heat. The lives of Delhiites will be saved from being troubled,” he added.
Shri Dilip Pandey, while showing some videos and photos of Munak Canal, said that water mafias are stealing water by installing pipes in Munak Canal. Hiranki is near Burari. On the other side of it, near Yamuna, lies Uttar Pradesh’s Pachhada. There, sand mafias are blocking the flow of Yamuna by building dams in Yamuna and doing illegal sand mining, but no action is being taken by the Uttar Pradesh Police. There are similar small obstacles, in which if little cooperation is received from the central government, then the people of Delhi will get relief from the water crisis in this scorching heat.
He said that to provide relief to the public from the water crisis, Delhi government’s water minister Ms. Atishi and all the MLAs are working on the ground. All departments including Jal Vibhag, DM, and SDM are on the ground and efforts are being made to ensure that not a single drop of water is wasted anywhere and water is not wasted due to pipe leakage.
He said that we had come to the residence of Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri C.R. Paatil with the hope that our voice would be heard. We have come to know that Shri C.R. Paatil is not there. He may have his engagements but being the representative of the people of Delhi, we will speak about it. With the same hope, we had come to Shri C.R. Paatil’s residence to put forth the pain of the people of Delhi. We have already given a letter from our side to the responsible officers present at Shri C.R. Paatil’s residence and have appealed to the Union Minister to intervene so that the people of Delhi can get immediate relief.
Shri Dilip Pandey expressed hope that Shri C.R. Paatil will understand the pain of the people of Delhi. We can understand that he has got a new ministry and it will take a few more days to understand the procedures of the ministry, but Shri C.R. Paatil is a very powerful and experienced minister. His little intervention can provide relief to the people of Delhi from the severe water crisis.
In response to a question, he said that people are trying to do politics on the water crisis, but the AAP MLAs are only expressing the pain of the people of Delhi. The Water Minister of the Delhi Government is only working on solving the water problem. “I think this is the time to do politics in the lives of the people of Delhi. Politics can be done on other issues, but the water crisis is not subject to politics. On the issue of water, we all should rise above party politics and work on providing relief to the people of Delhi,” he concluded.
