BJP seeks special assembly session to discuss Delhi ‘water crisis’, blames AAP govt ‘mismanagement’

PTI, Jun 8, 2024, 5:18 PM IST

The BJP on Saturday demanded that the Delhi Assembly speaker call a special session of the House to discuss the prevailing “water crisis” in the city that it blamed on the AAP government’s “mismanagement”.
BJP Chief Whip in the Delhi Assembly, Ajay Mahawar, in a letter to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, said the whole of Delhi is struggling with a water shortage amid unprecedented heat and the people are devastated due to the government’s “water mismanagement”.
“It is requested of you to immediately call a special session of the Delhi Assembly to discuss and find a solution to this crisis and provide relief to the people from this disaster caused by mismanagement of the Delhi government and the Delhi Jal Board,” Mahawar said in his letter.
He claimed that some special sessions were held in the past to discuss “unnecessary” issues while pressing for calling a special session on the water shortage.
BJP Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva also demanded that the speaker call a special session of the assembly on the problems faced by people due to the water shortage.
The national capital has been grappling with a water shortage, with Delhi Water Minister Atishi blaming Haryana for not releasing Yamuna water to the city.
The acute shortage has become an “existential problem” in Delhi, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday and directed the Himachal Pradesh government to release 137 cusecs of surplus water to the national capital and Haryana to facilitate its flow.
The top court also said there should be no politics over water.
The BJP’s newly-elected South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said water from Himachal Pradesh reaches Delhi in 48 hours but Atishi was creating noise within a few hours and accusing Haryana.
“Atishi is continuously lying that Haryana is not releasing Delhi’s share of water while it has been proven in the Supreme Court by the Haryana government that it is consistently providing water to Delhi, as per the agreement,” he said.
Atishi knows that it takes at least 48 hours for the water to reach Delhi from Himachal Pradesh but she started creating a fuss within 12 hours of the top court’s order, claiming the water released from the hill state had not reached the national capital and that Haryana had stopped the water, he alleged.
Atishi falsely accused Haryana of not releasing water based on the Yamuna’s level as on June 2. The Supreme Court’s decision came on June 6 and the water is expected to reach Delhi by June 8, he said.
Bidhuri claimed that the truth is that even after the water from Himachal Pradesh reaches Delhi, the “thirst” of the people of the national capital cannot be quenched because the city government has not arranged for treating that water.
For the past several days, Atishi has been falsely accusing the Haryana government of not providing Delhi its share of water based on the Yamuna’s level, Bidhuri said.
She knows that the Haryana government has an agreement under the Yamuna Accord to release a certain amount of water, not to maintain the water level of the Yamuna, but Atishi has never mentioned how much less water is being released while always referring to the Yamuna’s water level, he added.