NEW DELHI: BJP on Monday slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for requesting the Centre to give 1,300 MGD water to the city, calling his “promise” of round-the-clock water to the city residents a “bluff”.
“Even when Kejriwal made this promise, he knew it was not possible due to scarcity of water in Delhi. But he promised it anyway, just as he made other false promises to win the election,” said Leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.
No immediate reaction was available from AAP government on the allegation. Chief Minister on Sunday urged the Centre to provide 1,300 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Delhi saying it will help ensure round-the-clock water supply to the city households.
Delhi’s requirement of water was fixed by the Centre and other agencies way back in 1997-98 when its population was 80 lakh, and the same amount of water was being supplied to the city even though its population reached around 2.5 crore, he said.
Bidhuri said the central government has no source of water, and Kejriwal is only trying to create an “illusion” and mislead people into believing that it was because of the centre they were not getting water round-the-clock.
In the last eight years, the demand for water in Delhi has increased to 2,200 MGD but only 900 MGD of water is locally sourced, he said. “The Delhi government failed to take any steps to increase the water supply. All schemes made or announced by it have proved to be hollow promises,” he charged.
Bidhuri said that the Delhi CM had claimed to have arranged 200 MGD of water from Himachal Pradesh and striking an agreement to that end in November 2019. However, he alleged, the government could neither scrape up the money ‘ Rs 32 per thousand cubic feet of water ‘ nor make any other arrangement to bring water to Delhi. The plans of government to build a water storage at Palla through rainy wells and tube wells also did not work out, he claimed.
Kejriwal only trying to create ‘illusion’
Bidhuri said the Central government has no source of water, and Kejriwal is only trying to create an “illusion” and mislead people into believing that it was because of the Centre they were not getting water round-the-clock. In the last eight years, the demand for water in the national capital has increased to 2,200 MGD but only 900 MGD of water is locally sourced, he said.