Delhi and most parts of northern India are experiencing a scorching heat wave, but the problem has been worse confounded in the capital with severe water crisis in most parts of the city. Acute water crisis has now affected large parts of VVIP Lutyens’ Zone area, with New Delhi Municipal Council reporting supply of only 70 to 80 MLD (million litres a day) water compared to the daily normal supply of 125 MLD water.
NDMC gets water from Delhi Jal Board water treatment plants at Wazirabad, Sonia Vihar and Chandrawal plants, but the supply has been reduced by almost half on Tuesday. Parliament complex, Delhi High Court, Supreme Court, top government hospitals like RML Hospital, Lady Hardige and Kalavati Sharan hospitals, Chanakyapuri, Rashtrapati Bhavan, MP and ministers’ bungalows and flats have been hit by water supply disruption. NDMC vice-chairperson Satish Upadhyay said, water supplied from the three DJB plants is collected in 27 reservoirs and supplied to Lutyens’ Zone, but now only around 60 per cent of regular water supply is being made. VIPs and government hospitals in this zone are being supplied water through water tankers. Upadhyay alleged that Arvind Kejriwal’s government did nothing significant to improve water supply in the capital during the last 8 years, leading to water crisis during summer.
Parliament session is yet to begin and MPs are going to arrive next week, but already the entire area is facing acute water shortage. NDMC member Kuldip Chahal said, a contingency plan is being kept ready to meet the crisis. Ashoka Road, Janpath, Bengali Market, Khan Market, Tilak Marg, Jor Bagh are posh localities housing swanky residences, shops, institutions and markets. India TV reporter on Tuesday found queues of people near water tankers outside posh bungalows. People living in Delhi and neighbouring towns are sweltering in temperature which is more than 45 deg Celsisus, and night time temperature has almost touched 40 deg C. Shortage of drinking water in such a situation, can be calamitious. People are fighting over even a pail of water. For the last three weeks, Delhi has been facing tremendous water shortage, but this was mostly confined to unauthorised colonies and jhuggi areas. Now, the shortage has hit big hospitals, where patients, doctors and other hospital staff require water for day-to-day operations. T
he government knew about a big heat wave coming, and and it knew that tthis could lead to a big water crisis. No timely planning was made. Delhi government ministers blamed Haryana government for supplying less water and went to the Supreme Court. Haryana government ministers gave their own explanations. Nearly two and a half crore people living in the national capital are facing the consequences of this negligence. The saddest part is that leaders from all political parties have not stopped their bickerings and are still engaging in trying to score brownie points. Politics on water shortage must stop.
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