Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar said that it was strange that with the heat wave hitting record levels in Delhi, the Arvind Government did not envisage water shortage, and at the eleventh hour, it was indulging in its usual past time of blame-games, accusing Haryana of not releasing enough water, though Arvind should have acted on time to avoid such a situation. He said that recently, a woman in Vasant Kunj died during fight for  water, which exposed CM Arvind’s “water model” of Delhi.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the Arvind Government maintained silence on the water shortage to allow the tanker mafia, which is controlled by the Aam Aadmi Party legislators, to earn huge profits by selling tube-well water to people, particularly those living in the JJ Clusters, unauthorised colonies and other such settlements, where people are forced to depend on the tanker mafia for their water sustenance.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that amid the rising heat, water level at the Wazirabad Barrage has depleted alarmingly due to low water flow from Haryana to the Yamuna river, and the Delhi Government should have anticipated such a scenario and written to the Haryana Government to release more water, instead of reacting when Delhiites were staring at a severe water crisis, with East Delhi suffering the worst. He said that with the water level at the Wazirabad Barrage dropping to a critical low, a water crisis is looming large over Delhi, with Arvind away on his political tours.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the Arvind Government has sunk over 5000 tube wells across the Capital to draw water, to further deplete the every-shrinking water table in Delhi, to fulfil the “free water scheme”, though ironically, now the tanker mafia is benefiting from the scheme, by selling tube well water to JJ Clusters and other colonies at exorbitant prices to exploit the poor people.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that it has become a habit with Chief Minister Arvind to wake up only when a crisis hits hard, whether in addressing the power and water shortage, arranging medical oxygen, hospital beds and medicines during the Covid-19 pandemic surge and deaths, and other such crises. He said that for the past two years, Chief Minister Arvind has not shown much interest in the issues of Delhi, as he was involved in the Assembly elections of five States earlier, and now he is not only meddling in the affairs of the  Punjab Government as an extra-Constitutional authority, but also addressing political rallies in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, by squandering the Delhi tax payers’ money.