New Delhi: People are troubled by the water crisis in Delhi. People are running for water as soon as they see a tanker. Now the battle is going on in the Supreme Court regarding the water shortage. In the Supreme Court, the Kejriwal government said that the tanker mafia comes to Delhi from Haryana. Therefore, the Delhi government cannot take action against them. In fact, the Supreme Court reprimanded the Delhi government on Wednesday. The apex court had asked that people are troubled, in such a situation what action did you take against the tanker mafia. On this, the Delhi government filed a reply today i.e. on Thursday.
On Thursday, the Kejriwal government in its reply on the water shortage in Delhi said, ‘We cannot take action against the tanker mafia because the tanker mafia operates in Haryana on the other side of the Yamuna. They enter Delhi from Haryana.’ A status report has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Delhi government in the Delhi water crisis case. The matter is being heard today as well. A day before this, on Wednesday, the vacation bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Prasanna B Varale told the Delhi government that if it cannot deal with the tanker mafia, then it will ask the city police to take action against the tanker mafia.
On the tanker mafia, the Delhi government said that the tanker mafia is active on the Haryana side of the Yamuna river. The petitioner does not have the jurisdiction to take action against it. It is for Haryana to tell what steps it is taking to preserve the entire supply of water to Delhi between the point of issue and the point of receipt. It said that the Delhi government has taken steps to reduce the wastage of water in Delhi-
- DJB has taken over the maintenance of domestic service connections to reduce NRW.
- DJB has replaced nearly 3,500 km of its leaking and old water lines during the last eight years. Thus, on an average, about 437.5 km of old pipes are being replaced annually.
- Delhi Jal Board i.e. DJB is replacing faulty meters.
- DJB has undertaken projects for installation of around 3285 bulk flow meters in primary and secondary systems.
- A data centre has been set up at Jhandewalan, where online data of water consumption is received in real time.
- DJB has streamlined the system of obtaining water meters and water meters of approved specifications can now be purchased from the open market.
- Consumers whose meters are faulty have been allowed to replace them with private meters. Such consumers can get their meter’s security refunded or get the amount adjusted in their water bills.
- The leak detection cell has been strengthened, which has detected around 2000 leakages during the last 6 months.
- Domestic service connections are being replaced with better material, i.e. medium density polyethylene (MDPE).
- DJB supplies water to 28.26 lakh active consumers through its water network. DJB is also replacing the old ones.
Let us tell you that on Wednesday, the Supreme Court had said that if there can be strict laws to stop electricity theft, then why can’t there be laws to stop the wastage of water. The bench said, ‘If water is coming from Himachal Pradesh, then where is it going in Delhi? So much theft is happening here, tanker mafia is working. Have you taken any action against them? If you are not taking any action, then we will hand over this matter to the Delhi Police. People are upset. The same water is coming from the tanker but there is no water in the pipeline.’ The court further said, ‘We are seeing pictures on every channel that tanker mafia is working in Delhi. What measures have you taken in this regard? The affidavit shows that these cases have also come up in 2018, 2019 and 2021. Every time this court says that we cannot do this, this work should be done by the Yamuna Water Board (Upper Yamuna River Board-UYRB).’
Tags: Delhi Govt, drinking water crisis, Supreme Court, Water Crisis
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 13, 2024, 11:26 IST