Scores of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers on Monday protested against the Delhi government over the water crisis. The BJP workers were protesting outside the residence of state Health Minister Satyendra Jain in the Civil Lines area. The Delhi Police had to resort to water cannons to disperse the BJP workers. Jain is the chairman of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
BJP’s Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta blamed the AAP government for the crisis. He said that the government has failed to deliver on its promises and that tanker mafias have flourished under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
“People in Delhi are craving for each drop of water. The ministers of the Kejriwal government will realize the problems being faced by the people when their water supply is cut off,” he said.
BJP workers also tried to cut the water connection to Jain’s house. The protesters also threatened to cut off the water supply to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence if the issue is not resolved within the next two days.
The protest came a day after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers allegedly damaged the water connection to Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta’s residence in Patel Nagar during a protest against the Haryana government for allegedly not providing the capital its share of water.
BJP leaders and workers gathered outside the DJB’s zonal office in the Civil Lines area on Monday. They alleged that people in the city were facing a crisis due to the poor water supply.
On Saturday, DJB vice-chairman Raghav Chadha alleged that Haryana was withholding part of Delhi’s share of water. He said the DJB had moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to Haryana to release the capital’s legitimate share of water.
The DJB has been supplying 945 million gallons of water a day (MGD) to city residents this summer against the demand of 1,150 MGD. At present, Delhi has been receiving 479 MGD against 609 MGD from Haryana. Besides, Delhi draws 90 MGD groundwater and receives 250 MGD from the Upper Ganga Canal, he had said.
