South Delhi residents protest after going 20 days without water
Khriki extension, Khanpur, Aaya Nagar and Sangam Vihar are the worst affected areas in south Delhi with residents deprived of water supply since the last one month.
In Short
- AAP still to fulfill its promise of providing free water supply to Delhi residents.
- South Delhi residents deprived of water supply since last month.
- Sanctioned Rs 90 crores for installation of water pipelines
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by CM Arvind Kejriwal, has completed one-and a-half years of its tenure. However, it is yet to fulfil its promise of providing free water supply to Delhi residents.
More than half of residential localities in the Capital are suffering from major water crisis this summer with Delhi Jal Board pipelines or tankers not reaching there in time. Khriki extension, Khanpur, Aaya Nagar and Sangam Vihar are the worst affected areas in south Delhi with residents deprived of water supply since the last one month.
NO WATER
"Taps of the entire locality have no drop of water for over 20 days in Khirki extension. We have sent emails and also called concerned officials several times, mentioning specific locations where the problem persists. Yet officials of Jal Board pretend as if they are not even aware of problems existing in the localities," said Mohd Aakif Samshi, a software engineer and resident of T-block of Khirki extension.
The situation in Sangam Vihar or Khanpur is even worse with residents being deprived of water supply for more than one month. The situation is quite alarming here with neither water pipelines installed in majority of residential blocks nor water tankers reaching the doorsteps of the residents.
LOCALS PROTEST
Hundreds of local residents from localities such as J,K, L, M, Gupta Colony, Durga Colony, and Devi Enclave falling under Sangam Vihar constituency assembled at the house of local MLA Dinesh Mohaniya, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board on Sunday morning and protested against this crisis. They also blocked the busy Mehraulli Gurgaon road (MG road) to register their protest.
"We are fed up with fake promises. When Vijay Jolly was MLA of Sangam Vihar constituency, he had partially installed water pipelines but failed to deliver one drop of water. Now, its AAP's turn and with one-and-a-half years gone by, we are still deprived of this very basic amenity", said Yogesh Kumar, a local resident who participated in the protest.
Saryu Panday, a 70 year old resident of the same locality said that political parties have categorised this area as belonging to the underprivileged with lack of basic amenities such as water, sewerage and power supply. "We are poor people, but it does not mean we should not have the right to avail of these basic services," he lamented.
WATER MAFIA
The scarcity of drinking water is being taken advantage of by the water mafia. Since, people of this locality do not have enough purchasing capacity, they share water tanker expanses. The water mafia, capitalising on the situation, charges Rs 50 for three gallons of water.
When contacted, Dinesh Mohania told Mail Today that Delhi Jal Board is fully aware of the situation. It has sanctioned Rs 90 crores for the installation of water pipelines in Asia's largest residential colony Sangam Vihar with some part falling under the mountains of Aravalli. "We have made a detailed project report of the locality and are soon going to float the tendering process for the installation of a water pipeline in the hilly locality," Mohania said.
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