The Hindu : New Delhi News : Water crisis has been artificially created, say residents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 04, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Water crisis has been artificially created, say residents

Staff Reporter

Kalkaji Extn. residents allege nexus between Jal Board and private water suppliers

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board might be selling the dream of uninterrupted 24-hour water supply to South Delhi residents, but for over 800 DDA flats-owners of Kalkaji Extension, getting water to meet their daily requirements has become a bitter daily ordeal. And all their complaints to higher authorities, from the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, to the DJB Chief Operating Officer, Rakesh Mohan, have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Over 800 families living in the DDA Flats at Pocket A-3, A-4 and A-9 in Kalkaji allege that the nexus between the DJB employees and private water suppliers is forcing them to pay huge sums of money daily for getting private water tankers.

The supply to their flats had fallen drastically over the past one year and they had no choice but to pool in money to get tankers on a daily basis, residents said.

Till May last year, the residents of these flats used to get water for at least an hour twice a day from the DJB-run underground tank situated in the area. But it was during the first week of June that their real problems started as the supply time was drastically reduced to around 15 minutes.

"Initially, we were told that there was a shortage of supply to the underground tank and we were promised that things would improve within a few days. But the situation never improved.

In fact, the situation worsened, and during last summer, there were days when there was no supply to our flats. Since then we have been calling private water tankers paying between Rs.300 and Rs.500 for each," said O P Ralhan, a resident.

Stating that on several occasions the affected residents have lodged their complaints with the Delhi Chief Minister, the DJB Chief Operating Officer and also the local DJB officials, but to no avail, Mr. Ralhan alleged that it was the nexus between the Jal Board employees and the private water tanker owners that was the real cause of the "artificially created'' problem.

"Each block in our locality has 16 flats and they pool in money and call tankers. Within minutes private tankers fitted with powerful motors arrive and fill our tanks. Every day each block pays hundreds of rupees to meet their requirements. It is a clear case of innocent consumers being fleeced," he said, adding that during the past few months, the business of those selling bottled water has also grown manifold, putting a financial burden on residents.

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