Delhi water woes: BJP holds 'matka-phod' protest, AAP MLAs accuse Union Jal Shakti Minister for not intervening

New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): As Delhi's water woes escalate amid the prevailing intense heatwave, AAP MLAs accused Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil of not intervening in the matter, while the BJP held 'matka-phod' protest against the Arvind Kejriwal government highlight the water crisis in Delhi.
MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday reached the residence of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil at BD Marg seeking his intervention in the issue of water shortage. However, the MLAs were not able to meet CR Patil as he was 'not available' at his residence.
AAP MLA Rakhi Birla speaking on the issue said, "It is unfortunate that we gave a letter to Minister CR Patil yesterday and today our delegation visited his residence to meet him but we are getting the information that he is not at his residence. We want to request the minister to pay attention to the issue of water shortage in Delhi."
While another AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam said, "We have been informed that Minister CR Patil is not at his residence. He is aware that there is a water shortage in Delhi, and he should coordinate with the Delhi Govt in such a situation to solve this issue...We went to the Court and wrote to the Union Govt to intervene in this matter..."
Meanwhile, Delhi Minister Atishi on Sunday wrote a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, urging the deployment of police personnel to protect major pipelines in the national capital.
The letter read, "I am writing to request deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days to stop miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with water pipelines which have now become Delhi's lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi."
The letter further added, "Delhi Jal Board has patrolling teams for our main water distribution network that carries raw water to the Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) and then from our WTPs to our main underground reservoirs in different parts of the city. In addition, we have deployed teams under the supervision of ADMs to support in this work."
Delhi Water Minister Atishi said the ground patrolling team found water supply pipelines were damaged in some places.
"Yesterday, our ground patrolling team reported a major leakage in our South Delhi Rising Mains, the main water pipeline that carries water from Sonia Vihar WTP to South Delhi. This was near the DTL substation in Garhi Medhu. Our patrolling team found that several large 375 mm bolts and one 12-inch bolt had been cut from the pipeline, causing the leakage- The fact that several large bolts had been cut seems to indicate foul play and sabotage," she said in a letter.
Atishi further mentioned that the maintenance team worked for six hours to repair the leakage problem, exacerbating the water crisis in South Delhi.
"Our maintenance team worked for six hours continuously and repaired the leakage, but this meant that we had to stop pumping water for 6 hours and 20 MGD of water was not pumped during this time. As a consequence, a further 25 per cent of water shortage will be experienced in South Delhi," the letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner read.
Atishi also requested the Commissioner to deploy personnel to protect the major pipelines for the next 15 days.
"I am writing to request the deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days. This would be very important for putting a stop to miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with our water pipelines, which have now become Delhi's lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi," she added. (ANI)