BJP demands apology from CM for insulting Delhi citizens

• DJB's poor water management is responsible for Delhi's water woes
• CM should stop shifting blame for collapse of public utility services in Delhi : Goel

New Delhi, June 29. The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party today slammed Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for misleading the people of Delhi by saying Delhi does not have water for all its residents. The party also criticised the Chief Minister for making insensitive comments at a function on Friday where she said, No one should complain about water in Delhi as no one has died of thirst here so far. The party demanded that the CM should apologize to residents of Delhi and retract her statement.

Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel said, "The Chief Minister is misleading common people by trying to shift blame of poor water supply on lack of water supply from other states. The fact is that at least 40 per cent of the water is getting wasted due to poor water management in the city. We only need to plug this leakage and there will be sufficient water for Delhi. But the DJB headed by none other than the CM herself has failed to do this during last 15 years of Congress rule in the city."

While the water tariff has been shot up by 1000 per cent during the last 15 years, the water supply to common households have been reduced and the quality of water has gone down. The result is that people are dying in the city due to contaminated water and no one is held accountable for it by the government. There are at least 80 to 100 such specific spots where sewage is seeping into drinking water supply. But nothing has been done about this putting millions of city residents under grave risk.

"As head of the DJB, Sheila Dikshit is directly responsible for such incidents. But instead of fixing accountability here is a CM who is humiliating people by saying no one has died of thirst in Delhi. So no one should protest. 

In wake of recent deaths due to contaminated water at the NCERT colony, such an insensitive statement is shocking and shows the congress government's apathy towards problems of common people."

The BJP would like to reiterate that all that is required to ensure regular supply of quality water is professional management of Delhi Jal Board and the water supply system in the city. But as the CM has failed to do so hence she is trying to abdicate her responsibility by trying to shift blame on others.

Shri Goel said, the CM has admitted in a DJB function recently that 40 per cent of the city does not have sewage system. We would like to ask who is to be blamed for this ? Laying sewage system is task of DJB and it has not done it. So the CM needs to answer where has all the money gone which was allocated to DJB? What has it done during the last 15 years if almost half of the city which is capital of India is living without sewage system?

Shri Goel said, the way CM has been treating issues related to the common people such as power, water, sewage, transport and education with great disdain is appalling. The arrogance is reflected in the insensitive statements and off the cuff remarks made by her time and again.

On Friday also she made many insensitive remarks such as "You should be ready to pay more if you are using air conditioners." She has said in the past on inflated power tariffs, "stop using air cooler, use only one bulb and fan if you cannot afford electricity bills."

The Delhi BJP warned the CM that it should stop making fun of the common residents of Delhi and focus on proper management of public utility services instead of shifting blame on others.