NEW DELHI: Former CM Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday sought to substantiate his claims about the contamination of the Yamuna by citing DJB CEO’s letter indicating that the river contains 7 ppm of ammonia, which is 700% above the permissible limit, and poses a severe public health risk. He was responding to the Election Commission’s notice issued over his “poison in water” statement.
“Yamuna poison remark was made in public interest,” he said and identified Haryana’s “indiscriminate discharge” of industrial waste as the root cause for the contamination.
Emphasising that access to clean water is a basic human right, Kejriwal said raising the issue cannot be considered an offence. He pointed out that due to the extreme toxicity of raw water from Haryana, Delhi’s water treatment plants are operating below capacity, leading to a shortage of treated water.
The statement attributed to him was made in the context of an urgent and alarming public health crisis concerning the deteriorating quality of drinking water in Delhi, necessitating immediate governmental intervention, he said.
“As a lower riparian state, the capital depends on raw water supplies from Haryana, an upper riparian state, for potable water. The alleged statements were made in furtherance of an imperative public duty to highlight the severe toxicity and contamination of raw water received from Haryana, which presents an imminent and direct threat to public health,” his response read.
Tit-for-tat: saini sips water from yamuna
Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday took a couple of sips of water from the Yamuna and said there is no poison in water flowing from his state to Delhi. The AAP had accused the ruling BJP in Haryana of draining industrial waste into the Yamuna river, with Kejriwal alleging that it is trying to kill people by “mixing poison” in the river. P4