Government has failed to deal with water crisis: BJP

New Delhi: A Delhi Jal Board meeting was deferred after BJP members vociferously protested over the AAP government's alleged failure to deal with the worsening water crisis in the national capital.

BJP councillor in North Delhi Municipal Corporation Jai Prakash said that the BJP members on the board had asked some tough questions to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who heads the DJB, during its meeting on Monday.

The meeting plunged into commotion and Mr Kejriwal left soon after. The board will meet again at 11 am on Wednesday.

Several areas of the national capital face water crisis in every summer. “It’s peak summer and the government has no plan to tackle the worsening water crisis in areas such as Kirari, Sangam Vihar, Chandni Chowk and localities across the Yamuna river. They (AAP government) have been saying these areas will get water but nothing has happened so far,” said Mr Prakash, also vice president of Delhi BJP.

“At a meeting held earlier, we had also brought to their notice leakages in drinking water pipelines at more than a hundred places in Delhi. If they plug these leakages, a lot of water can be saved and given to those who need it,” he said.

According to Mr Prakash, these meetings are not meant to pass resolutions, they are meant to prepare definite plans to ensure water supply in unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters and villages.

Citing a news report, the BJP councillor alleged that the DJB gave tenders to 17 private companies blacklisted by its vigilance department. “It’s waste of public money,” he said.

The Delhi government's anti-corruption branch has booked the 17 firms and DJB engineers after payment worth around Rs 5 crore was allegedly released to these companies despite them failing to deliver equipment and services.

Mr Prakash said the BJP is seeking to corner the AAP government on the issue at the meeting on Wednesday.