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BJP and Congress target AAP govt on water quality
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
A Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) report on drinking water quality in Delhi and other cities has snowballed into a political fight with opposition parties in the capital accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of supplying “unsafe” drinking water to residents.
Alleging that AAP, which had promised 20,000 litres of free water during the 2015 election campaign, was supplying “polluted” water, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress staged different protests in the city.
The BIS report said 11 samples collected from different parts of Delhi failed to meet norms on 19 parameters. Water utility Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is under the Delhi government.
The BJP held a protest march at several locations while the Congress demonstrated at Turkman Gate from where water is supplied to the entire Walled City.
The two parties said the AAP government had forced the people of Delhi to breathe polluted air and drink dirty and “unsafe” water.
With assembly elections scheduled early next year, the parties are trying to corner the government as water supply was one of AAP’s main poll promises during the 2015 polls.
Delhi BJP Manoj Tiwari said, “I want to ask the chief minister how people will live in the city when the air and water are polluted. He should visit residential areas where people are ready to serve him bottles of polluted water.”
The Congress accused both AAP in the state and the BJP at the Centre of “making Delhiites suffer”. “Both are to be blamed. Arvind Kejriwal promised regular supply of piped water. But what his government is supplying is undrinkable. There is a ministry for water supply, but still the BJP failed to ensure residents of the capital get clean drinking water. What are the two governments doing?” asked Subhash Chopra, president of Delhi Congress.
Chopra said, “A criminal case should be registered against the CM for playing with the lives of people by letting contaminated water to be supplied.”
The BJP said the CM being the chairman of DJB had failed to provide basic amenities. “People in Delhi had given a massive mandate to AAP so that they can provide essential services like clean drinking water. But the CM, who heads DJB, failed the people,” Vijender Gupta, leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly, said.
AAP’s chief spokesperson, Saurabh Bhardwaj countered, “How can the BJP-ruled Central government become an umpire and give certification to rival political parties?”
“We challenge them to bring the media and pick random samples from anywhere in Delhi and from BJP-ruled UP. Any neutral lab will bring out the truth and expose the petty politics of the BJP,” he said.
