NEW DELHI: At a time when lakhs of residents of East Delhi and South Delhi are reeling under an acute water crisis due to non-availability of water from the Bhagirathi Water Treatment Plant, a non-governmental organisation, Water Workers Alliance, has charged that this shortage is artificially created as the intention was to divert the raw water to the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant which is lying unused even three years after being completed due to non-availability of water.

Memorandum

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Jal Board on Wednesday, the president of the alliance, S.A. Naqvi, said after defeat in the "water sector reform project'' which had been brought in under the guise of 24x7 water supply in some areas of South Delhi and after "withdrawal of procurement of loan application'' from the World Bank, the failure of the Bhagirathi Water Treatment Plant is the third conspiracy which has been hatched to cover up the failures of the Board.

The NGO alleged that the Bhagirthi Water Treatment Plant had collapsed or failed and the idea was to promote the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant which was a pet project of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and a white elephant as it had failed to provide a single drop of water to Delhiites despite hundreds of crores of public money having been invested.

Inefficiency

The episode, the organisation said, had exposed DJB's inefficiency in providing proper maintenance to the water treatment plants and ensuring a steady supply of wholesome water to the public.As for Bhagirathi WTP, it asked how was it that the factor of low turbidity here had become so important when other plants which were three to four times older than it were performing above their designed capacity with lesser turbidity.

Pointing out that low turbidity was being cited as the cause of closure of the plant, Mr Naqvi said there has been no answer to whether the problem has been caused due to poor maintenance and lack of funds since the problem could not have happened overnight and obviously some of the officials did not react on time.

Stating that there was a need to investigate if the action plans made and approved during the past three years had been implemented, he said urgent steps needed to be taken to ensure that Bhagirathi WTP becomes functional again.

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