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A BJP delegation that held the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO Nikhil Kumar "captive" for more than 10 hours at the utility's headquarters here over alleged lack of water supply in the city ended the protest early Wednesday after the officer called the police.
Former Union minister Vijay Goel, who led the delegation, told PTI that the DJB CEO "called the police who escorted him out and the gherao ended around 3:30 am Wednesday".
Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman Dinesh Mohaniya said they had been supplying water beyond their capacity and accused the BJP of politicising the issue.
Around 5 pm on Tuesday, the BJP delegation, which besides Goel included MLA O P Sharma and BJP city unit vice president Jai Prakash, went to meet DJB CEO Kumar, who took charge on June 6.
The DJB headquarters, however, soon turned into a protest venue as the delegation started raising slogans against the Aam Aadmi Party government alleging the utility, headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had no plans to deal with the "water crisis" in the national capital.
Goel told PTI that the delegation had "held the CEO captive and that he would not be allowed to leave till he promises to form a task force to address issues related to contaminated water, upload all complaints on DJB website and release a summer action plan, among other things".
Sharma, the BJP MLA, said the DJB staff had locked the doors on the ground floor to prevent other BJP supporters from moving up to the CEO’s room.
Goel, a former Delhi BJP president, Sharma and other party leaders indulged in arguments with DJB officials over the water supply issue.
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