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Merely blocking tanker mafia won’t solve water crisis says Atishi
Delhi facing a 50 million gallons per day shortfall in water production; If tanker mafia is active and say 100-200 tankers are operated, it will be not more than 0.1-0.5 MGD of water used by them
New Delhi : Delhi is facing a 50 million gallons per day shortfall in water production and the present crisis can not be solved by merely restraining the tanker mafia, the AAP government’s Water Minister Atishi said on Thursday.
“If tanker mafia is active and say 100-200 tankers are operated, it will be not more than 0.1-0.5 MGD of water used by them. Even if the tanker mafia is completely restrained, it will not solve the water crisis in Delhi as it is facing a shortfall of 50 MGD of water,” she said.
“There is no large-scale leakage, it’s a rumour. Leakages, if any, in the pipelines are repaired within 12 hours,” Atishi claimed, adding that a recent audit shows that water leakage in Delhi is lesser than international standards. There is a genuine water crisis in the city, Atishi said and appealed to people to avoid water wastage. She said the average water production in Delhi has fallen considerably from 1,000-1,005 million gallons per day (MGD) six days ago due to a lack of adequate supply of raw water through the Yamuna River and other sources.
“On June 12 it was 951 MGD. It means production has decreased by 50 MGD in Delhi due to shortage of water, leading to scarcity in areas at the tail end of the water pipeline network,” she said. The plight of Delhiites braving an unprecedented high summer heat has been further aggravated by an acute shortage of water supply in the city.
The ruling AAP and BJP are involved in a blame game as the city grapples with one of its worst water crises in recent years. Atishi asserted that the Arvind Kejriwal government has been taking all measures to prevent leakage and wastage of water.
Delhi government teams have so far issued 1,323 challans to people for water wastage while 179 unauthorised water connections for construction work and other commercial purposes have been disconnected, she told reporters. Appealing to Delhi people not to use water from DJB’s pipeline network for washing cars, roofs and balconies of houses and watering plants, the minister said, “People need to come together to tackle the water crisis.”
As of now, over 1,000 tankers of DJB are supplying water to areas such as unauthorised colonies and slums that have no access to the pipeline network. These tankers make eight to 10 trips to supply water which means only four to five MGD of water is being used, Atishi said.
