A few days back, Minister Atishi and I met the Delhi LG and raised concerns about falling water supply from Haryana. The entire meeting was recorded by Delhi LG through three cameras. Today, a few MPs from BJP met the Delhi LG. We assume he must have recorded this meeting too. Before I address the allegations raised by the LG today, I sincerely request him to release both these video recordings so that the people of Delhi can decide for themselves who is fighting for their rights, and who is conspiring against them.
We agree with Delhi LG that governance should be conducted in a harmonious environment, with a spirit of conciliation and accommodation. But we are unable to understand why does the LG not hold the BJP-ruled Haryana government to the same yardstick, despite being fully aware that the Haryana government has been blocking over 100 MGD of Delhi’s rightful share of water for the past many days.
The Water Production Data for the month of June 2024, issued by Delhi Jal Board, clearly shows that Delhi was producing its full share of 1005 MGD water till 6th June. There was no water crisis in Delhi until 6th June. However, the water supply to Delhi continuously started falling after 6th June reaching 958 MGD on 10th June, 901 MGD on 15th June and an all-time low of 888 MGD on 20th June. There is no reduction in the share of water being supplied by Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. The entire shortfall of over 100 MGD is due to reduced water supply by Haryana government to Delhi. Since 1 MGD water is required to meet the daily needs of 28,500 people, a reduction in 100 MGD of Delhi’s rightful share of water supply by Haryana government is equivalent to blocking the access of water to 28 lakhs people of Delhi.
This is the real issue behind the present water crisis. Never in Delhi’s history has Delhi’s water supply being blocked in this manner by the Haryana government. To do so in the middle of the most intense heatwave in over 100 years is criminal. Yet the LG does not even acknowledge these hard facts and data in his response.
Further, the LG has conveniently ignored the tremendous efforts of the Kejriwal government to modernize Delhi’s distribution system and prevent water losses in the last 9 years, all of which form a part of Delhi government’s submission to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The same are summarized below:
- To reduce the leakage of water while transmission of water from Haryana to Delhi, DJB has spent about Rs 500 Crores in constructing Carried Lined Channel (CLC), reducing water losses from 30% to 5%. (Earlier the raw water from Yamuna and Ravi Beas sources used to come in Delhi through river course and unlined Delhi sub Branch (DSB), resulting in 30% loss in unlined canal.)
- To utilise the water that reaches Delhi effectively, 3,500 km of old pipelines have been replaced (437 km annually) in the last 8 years.
- To reduce illegal tappings and water theft, over 7,300 km of new pipelines have been laid in Delhi the last 10 years i.e. 730 km annually. Approx. 5,200 km of these new pipelines have been laid in unauthorised colonies and ~2100 km of in rural areas/urban villages.
- To monitor water consumption in real time, Data centre and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (“SCADA”) based system has been established at DJB headquarters. Over 3000 bulk flow meters have been installed in the water supply network to minutely audit the water reaching every stage of the network.
- The Leak Detection Cell has also been strengthened, which detected and fixed around 2000 leakages during the last 6 months.
- In 2019, Delhi government signed a MoU with the Himachal Pradesh government to procure an additional 50 MGD of water, but the Haryana Govt is not letting water from Himachal reach Delhi. The proposal is pending with the Upper Yamuna River Board, where Haryana has blocked the same.
Further, the LG has chosen once again to raise the bogey of leakages and private water tanker mafia within Delhi. If this is the cause of the present water crisis, did this not exist before 6th June, when there was no water crisis in Delhi? For the last two weeks, teams of Delhi Police, which report into the LG, have constantly been patrolling the water pipelines of DJB. Why doesn’t the LG make it public how many private tanker mafia operators have been caught or how many FIRs have been filed?
As a constitutional functionary, blaming the ruling party in Delhi of playing politics while turning a blind eye to the hard facts of falling water supply to Delhi by the BJP-ruled Haryana government, or the efforts taken by Kejriwal government to modernize Delhi’s water distribution network shows that Shri Vinai Saxena is not functioning as the LG of Delhi, he is functioning like the LG of BJP.
