Delhi water crisis: AAP accuses BJP of hatching conspiracy; BJP says Kejriwal govt negligent

New Delhi [India], June 16 : As several parts of Delhi have been facing an acute shortage of water amid extreme summer heat, the Aam Aadmi Party accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy against the people, while the BJP held a Matka-Phod protest against the Arvind Kejriwal government to highlight the crisis.
AAP leader Atishi also alleged that the BJP's former South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri attacked the Delhi Jal Board office in Chhatarpur along with some goons amid the ongoing water crisis in the national capital.
The water crisis in Delhi has sparked widespread protests, vandalism, and political confrontations across the city. The Delhi Jal Board office was vandalized by some BJP workers in the Chhatarpur area on Sunday.
While addressing a press conference, Atishi said, "Delhi is currently facing severe heat. Even in this difficult time, the BJP has left no stone unturned to trouble the people of Delhi. The BJP is hatching a conspiracy against the people. This conspiracy has three parts. The first part of this is to stop the water supply to Delhi from the BJP government of Haryana. Due to this not even a drop of water is left at the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant."
The AAP leader said that the pipelines through which water is sent from Delhi's water treatment plants were found to be broken, alleging that it was part of the BJP's conspiracy.
"Whatever water is produced by Delhi's water treatment plants, that much water is sent forward through pipelines. Now these pipelines are being damaged. How BJP leaders reach in front of broken pipelines. They click photos. Yesterday, the pipeline that supplies water to South Delhi from Sonia Vihar was found to be broken. Was this pipeline broken intentionally? This would not have happened on its own. This is also a part of the conspiracy," she said.
Atishi said that the BJP workers, along with Bidhuri, threw pots and vandalized the Delhi Jal Board office in Chhattarpur.
"So you all saw that the person who attacked the Delhi Jal Board office in Chhatarpur was none other than the BJP's former South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who went inside the office with goons. You saw that all the people with him were wearing BJP sashes, BJP flags were visible in the background, and BJP workers, or should I say BJP goons, were throwing pots in the Delhi Jal Board office, breaking glasses, damaging the office," the AAP leader said.
"We have complained about the attack to the Delhi Police. I've shared the video of the attack with the DCP of South Delhi Police. Now we will wait and see if the police file the complaint against Bidhuri or not," she added.
Meanwhile, the police officials inspected the Jal Board pipelines in the Yamuna Khadar area of northeast Delhi on Sunday and said that there was no leakage.
After inspecting the pipeline, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Lokendra Sirohi said, "There is no leakage here. If there is any leakage, we will inform the Jal Board and our control room."
This comes after Atishi said on Sunday that if the Centre does not intervene in the situation, the situation will not improve and the BJP should talk to its government in Haryana and get more water for Delhi. She also wrote a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, urging the deployment of police personnel to protect major pipelines in the national capital.
The letter read, "I am writing to request deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days to stop miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with water pipelines which have now become Delhi's lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi."
The letter added, "Delhi Jal Board has patrolling teams for our main water distribution network that carries raw water to the Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) and then from our WTPs to our main underground reservoirs in different parts of the city. In addition, we have deployed teams under the supervision of ADMs to support in this work."
Atishi also requested that the Commissioner deploy personnel to protect the major pipelines for the next 15 days.
"I am writing to request the deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days. This would be very important for putting a stop to miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with our water pipelines, which have now become Delhi's lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi," she added.
Meanwhile, holding the AAP responsible for the water crisis in Delhi, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari on Sunday lashed out at Atishi and accused her and the AAP of cheating people of the national capital.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari while speaking to ANI said, "Every year water crisis happens. Who is Atishi cheating? Atishi should bring a white paper on which pipes were changed in the past 10 years. These are lazy people, they neither have any work policy nor any intention, they just want to loot the treasury".
"There is so much heat still people are coming out to protest. They are saying that the government which can't provide water to its people is a useless government. I want to tell Atishi that there is a limit to lying. This liar government is just sitting and their leader is inside the jail and denying to give resignation. The people of Delhi will punish them, Delhi does not want people who make excuses, Delhi wants people who solve the problem," he added.
Echoing voices of other BJP leaders, Tiwari also blamed the tanker mafias, accusing them of working in cahoots with the Aam Aadmi party leaders.
"The biggest problem is the tanker mafias. At least 40 percent of the water is being wasted and Delhi is just getting 10-20 percent of water," Tiwari added.
Besides, MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday reached the residence of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil at BD Marg seeking his intervention in the issue of water shortage. However, the MLAs were not able to meet CR Patil as he was 'not available' at his residence.