2 waterbodies may ease supply woes in Dwarka

NEW DELHI: With no new source of surface water available to increase Delhi’s supply in the immediate future, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has turned to groundwater to bail out the city.
Along with Pune-based NEERI, DJB will develop two waterbodies in Dwarka with the hope that these will replenish the groundwater levels, which can then supply about 10-15 million gallons per day of water to the surrounding areas.
“We will start with these two waterbodies and subsequently develop four more in Rithala, Rohini Sector-25, Nilothi and Kondli. The waterbodies in Dwarka will come up in an area of 35 acres,” said Kapil Mishra, DJB chairperson.
During a board meeting on Monday, it was also decided to abolish infrastructure charges for commercial connections. From now, development charges will be taken under two slabs. For an area of 50sqft or lower, the flat charge will be Rs 45,000, while for a property larger than that, it will be Rs 1 lakh.
It has been decided to open up community halls and baraat ghars — so far meant only for DJB employees — for everyone. At present there are six such baraat ghars under the board.
“We have also decided to extend the scheme for regularisation of domestic and commercial unauthorised water connections by another two months, during which late payment surcharge for all commercial connections will be waived off,” said Mishra.
He added, “Due to the various amnesty schemes that have been announced by us, the board has a historic 19.54 lakh registered water connections at present. We have added almost 1 lakh more water bills in the past one-and-a-half years, up from 18.6 lakh billing connections in 2014-15. Finally, we have also scaled up infrastructure work in DJB and have approved projects worth over Rs 400 crore for 15 constituencies across Delhi.”