Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged the Centre to provide 1,300 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Delhi, saying it will help ensure round-the-clock water supply of the city. The CM said this while inaugurating the underground water reservoir in Patparganj village. The Delhi government is trying to increase water availability in the city, said Kejriwal.
"Delhi received 800-850 MGD water around 1997-98 when its population was around 80 lakh. It is still getting the same amount of water though the population has now tripled to 2.5 crore. With a slight nudge from the Centre, water can be made available from neighbouring states," the Chief Minister said.
"We will supply round-the-clock water to each household in Delhi if the city is provided 1,300 MGD water by the Centre," added the CM. He also assured the residents of Delhi that their water bills would be rectified in case of any anomaly and suggested they hold paying the charges till the correct ones were available as Delhi Jal Board (DJB) would come up with a plan for it.
Kejriwal said that water can be provided to Delhi from the neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and that his government would work for this. Besides water from the Yamuna, Ganga and the neighbouring states, Delhi is also working to boost availability through local sources, he added.
In the last seven years, the availability of water in Delhi has increased from 861 MGD to 990 MGD through water treatment plants, tube wells and rainy wells, said Kejriwal. Twelve reservoirs and three treatment plants were constructed by the Delhi government in the last seven years, he added.
Since 2015 when AAP came to power in Delhi, 12 underground water reservoirs, three water treatment plants, one water recycling plant, 500 tubewells and a 2,250 km long water pipeline network that have benefitted 30 lakh people have come up, Kejriwal said.
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