New Delhi: Residents of several areas of Delhi on Monday continued to face water shortages with people seen queuing up at water tankers to get their fill of water.
Visuals from the Okhla area showed people holding onto cans and buckets crowding around water tankers. This scene has become a daily occurrence in many areas in the national capital many areas since the start of the summer season this year. Chanakyapuri's Sanjay Camp, Geeta Colony in East Delhi, Patel Nagar, Mehrauli, and Chhatarpur are some of the areas in the national capital that have been affected by the severe water crisis.
Meanwhile, with the water supply crisis deepening in the city, police officials inspected the Jal Board pipelines in the Yamuna Khadar area of northeast Delhi on Sunday and said that there was no leakage. After inspecting the pipeline, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Lokendra Sirohi said, "There is no leakage here. If there is any leakage, we will inform the Jal Board and our control room."
Delhi Minister Atishi on Sunday wrote a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, urging the deployment of police personnel to protect major pipelines in the national capital. Atishi had said that the ground patrolling team found water supply pipelines were damaged in some places. She also requested that the Commissioner deploy personnel to protect the major pipelines for the next 15 days.
The Delhi Water Minister also alleged that the BJP's former South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri attacked the Delhi Jal Board office in Chhatarpur along with some goons. The water crisis in Delhi has sparked widespread protests, vandalism, and political confrontations across the city. While addressing a press conference, Atishi said, "Delhi is currently facing severe heat. Even in this difficult time, the BJP has left no stone unturned to trouble the people of Delhi. The BJP is hatching a conspiracy against the people. This conspiracy has three parts. The first part of this is to stop the water supply to Delhi from the BJP government of Haryana. Due to this not even a drop of water is left at the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant."
Meanwhile, AAP MLAs accused Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil of not intervening in the matter, while the BJP held a 'matka-phod' protest against the Arvind Kejriwal government to highlight the water crisis in Delhi. MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday reached the residence of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil at BD Marg, seeking his intervention in the issue of water shortage.
However, the MLAs were not able to meet the minister as he was "not available" at his residence. The BJP has been blaming the AAP government for the water crisis saying that it did not take effective action against the tanker mafia who pilfer water. Congress, which had fought the recent Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the AAP in the national capital, has also held protests in the national capital.
On Saturday Congress workers held a 'Matka Phod' (break pitchers) protest in Delhi's Krishna Nagar area against the AAP-led Delhi government and the BJP-led government at the Centre to highlight the water crisis in the national capital.
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