Delhiites have to brace for a severe water crisis in the coming summer season. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which supplies water across the city, is clueless about the wastage of water in the capital. According to a senior government official, the DJB is not able to calculate the loss of drinkable water in the city.
“It is hard to find out the quantity of water which we lose. However, we have launched a District Meter Area (DMA) to calculate this,” he said.
Against the city’s population of 1.80 crore, the total number of water connections is 19.65 lakhs.
This summer season is also crucial for the city government as Assembly elections are slated in November this year.
“The DJB purifies around 835 MGD water daily, including 100 MGD of groundwater,” a government official said.
BJP MLAs Ramesh Bidhuri and Satyaprakash Rana, who are active in “cornering” the government on the issue, claim that around 60 per cent of Delhi’s population is not getting water from the DJB and is forced to buy water from private agencies.
“There are many areas where the DJB laid pipeline years ago but there is still no water supply. People are forced to depend on tankers. And now the government is planning to privatise the system. For the last five years people in many constituencies are waiting for a drop of water from their taps,” said Tughlaqabad MLA Ramesh Bidhuri.
MLA from Bijwasan, Satyaprakash Rana said, “The DJB has no idea about how much water a person consumes, neither they have any data regarding the theft and wastage of drinkable water. Residents of many constituencies are facing severe water crisis. I asked the chief minister to provide water in Bijwasan for at least a day in the week but still the taps are dry. The residents are forced to pay for a 1,000 litre tanker which lasts six days.”
Delhi is still not able to get 80 MGD of water from Haryana’s Munak Canal.