NEW DELHI, June 24: Delhi cabinet ministers have written a letter to Prime Narendra Modi and urged him to resolve the water crisis in the national capital on priority, Environment minister Gopal Rai said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference, Delhi ministers Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot and Imran Hussain said Atishi’s indefinite fast has entered the fourth day and her health is deteriorating.
The ministers decided to write a letter to the prime minister on the water crisis during a meeting at the site of Atishi’s hunger strike at Jangpura’s Bhogal.
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In the letter, the ministers said that despite the heatwave conditions, Delhi was not getting its “rightful share” of water from Haryana.
“The total water supply in Delhi is 1,005 MGD. Out of this, a huge chunk of 613 MGD comes from Haryana. For the last many weeks, there has been a decline in water coming from Haryana,” the letter read.
The Delhi ministers said that Delhi was getting 100 MGD less for many days now.
“One MGD of water fulfils the needs of 28,500 people in Delhi in one day. This means that due to the the decline of 100 MGD of water, 28 lakh people are not getting water. On one hand, we need additional water and on the other hand, 28 lakh people are not getting water,” read the letter signed by Rai, Gahlot, Hussain and Bharadwaj.
The ministers also cited Atishi’s indefinite hunger strike to request the prime minister to find a solution to the water crisis on priority.
At the press conference, environment minister Rai said, “Today, we are appealing to LG sir that anytime tomorrow, you should go to Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant along with all of us. You should come there along with your officers and see what the condition is,” he said.
On Sunday, a delegation of 10 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders had met the LG over the water crisis in the national capital.
“Yesterday when our ministers, MPs and MLAs went to meet LG sir, he kept saying that Haryana is providing water. Whereas the truth is that Yamuna river has dried up in Wazirabad,” Rai said.
“When the agreement to provide 1005 MGD water to Delhi was signed, the population here was around one crore. Now, after 30 years, the population of Delhi has increased to more than three crore but the water supply is still the same.
“Now that demand for water rose due to scorching heat, the BJP government of Haryana has stopped 100 MGD — more than 46 crore litres of Delhi’s water,” he claimed.
Asserting that Delhi should get its due share of water, the minister announced that a candle light march will be carried out in support of Atishi’s indefinite fast at 8 pm.
“Please come and join the candle march to support Atishi in this fight for the right to water of the people of Delhi,” Rai said.
Hitting out at the AAP government, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said the meeting of ministers at the “air-conditioned” hunger strike site “clearly indicates” that they are now “looking for excuses” to end the indefinite fast.
Sachdeva said the water levels of Wazirabad treatment plant is low as the Yamuna is filled with silt. “Ninety-five per cent of the pond at Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant is filled with silt, which prevents water from staying and causes it to flow away,” he claimed. (PTI)
