New Delhi: Slamming the Sheila Diskshit government over the rising water bills, Delhi BJP yesterday said the party will soon come out with a white paper on the state of water in the national capital.
The party also accused the Delhi Jal Board, which is headed by Dikshit herself, of mismanagement and said, "It has resulted in over-charging people for water supplied to their homes in Delhi when 40 per cent of people don't get the supply of drinking water."
Delhi BJP Chief Vijay Goel said "water and power will be the key issues on which BJP will contest the Assembly elections." The party will soon release a white paper on the "state of water" in Delhi, he said.
He said water bills have been inflated by 30 per cent in the city.
"It is shocking to see that despite more than 1,000 per cent increase in water tariff over the last 15 years, the DJB has illegally inflated water bills by 30 per cent and charged them from the common people. The current water tariff rate in Delhi is already very high and the CAG has observed that it is nine times that of Mumbai," he said.
Accusing the government of being insensitive, Goel said, "People in Delhi have been handed over water bills running into lakhs of rupees due to faulty reading of water meters installed by DJB or private companies brought in by the DJB.
He said that being the Chairperson of DJB, the CM has been responsible for not only the water supply and billing in the city but also for the cleaning of Yamuna, which, even the court says, has turned into a dirty drain.
Goel said water mafia has a free run. "The mafia is dependent on illegal extraction of water and colludes with staff to siphon off DJB supply and sell it.
These tankers have a field day because they cater to a large market in Delhi that would otherwise become DJB's responsibility," he alleged.
Delhi produces around 835 million gallons per day of water, which is 300 MGD short of the actual demand.
