Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised, in his election manifesto 9 years ago, that the people of Delhi would be provided clean, potable and free water, which will be so clean that people would be able to drink water directly from the tap, but nine years down the line, people are thirsting for water with Kejriwal’s promise of potable piped water remaining just a pipe dream. He said that with the mercury rising sharply and the Capital witnessing a ‘Yellow Alert’, Delhiites are thirsting for water, as many colonies are going without water, and wherever whater is available, it is dirty and unfit for consumption, with people, particularly children, falling sick after consuming the water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). He warned that if the water shortage is not addressed immediately, Congress workers will come out on the streets to force the Kejriwal Government to take immediate steps to address the water shortage, as it has become a recurring problem ever since Kejriwal came to power, as his assurances of finding a solution to the water shortage, particularly clean, potable water, have remained only on paper.

Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan here today, Ch. Anil Kumar said that there is a 400MGD shortage of water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) out of a total demand of around 1300MGD (million gallons per day), and as a result, many areas in Delhi are going without water and people are being forced to depend on the tanker mafia. He said that every household spends Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 for drinking water every month, as the DBJ has failed to provide potable water. Others present at the press conference were Chairman of the DPCC Communications Department Shri Anil Bhardwaj, vice-chairman of the Communications Department Shri Vikram Lohia and Tarun Tyagi, chairman, Panchayati Raj Committee.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that he has been raising the water problem for the past three years, and Delhi Congress, in its MCD election manifesto, had promised to tackle the water shortage on a war footing, but the people of Delhi were caught in the false promises of Kejriwal, who continue to deceive them with  hollow promises, as his focus has been on corruption, and the stage-managed fight with the BJP and the Lt. Governor to always remain in the news without doing anything to address people’s problems, like water shortage. He said that the water shortage has become so acute in many areas, particularly in Patparganj—the Assembly constituency he once represented and which is the Assembly seat of former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia—that people are forced to consume dirty water, causing diseases to people, including at Dhallupura, as Kejriwal has been suppling not “free water, but free diseases”, like typhoid, dengue, malaria etc.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that according to a DJB sample test of the water supplied by it, 3% samples  failed the quality test, as the water samples contained sewage mix. He said that Kejriwal had made many promises about enhancing and improving the water supply, including his promise of taking a dip in the Yamuna water, but the Yamuna water is so dirty that it was not even fit for watering the plants. He said that even the borewells dug by the Kejriwal Government was supplying dirty water, and as a result, the tanker mafia was fleecing the common people by  supplying water at inflated rate.