AAP asks BJP MPs in Delhi to seek water for city from Haryana govt

New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) The seven BJP Lok Sabha members in Delhi should urge the party's government at the Centre and in Haryana to provide water to the national capital which is grappling with acute shortage, the city's ruling Aam Aadmi Party said on Friday.

The BJP MPs elected by the people of Delhi are "missing" when residents are facing the difficult situation, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told a press conference.

Hitting back, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accused Delhi's Water Minister Atishi of "misleading" people by presenting "cooked up" figures about the availability of water.

At his press conference, Singh said that Delhi made the BJP victorious on all the seven seats in the Lok Sabha polls, but its government in Haryana was "punishing" the people in the city.

"In such scorching heat, the BJP government of Haryana is being inimical with us by stopping Delhi's rightful water. I want all the seven BJP MPs that they should appeal to the Haryana and Central governments to provide water to Delhi," Singh said.

In this situation of water crisis in Delhi, the BJP should support the AAP government and the people of city rather than indulging in politics and blame game, he said.

Sachdeva said it is regrettable that Water minister Atishi is trying to "mislead" the people of Delhi by issuing "cooked up figures" and social media posts, rather than working to fix leakages in pipelines and preventing water theft by tanker mafia.

"The minister has said that normal water production in Delhi is 1,005 MGD (million gallons per day), sharing data from June 6 to June 13. Against the normal production of 1,005 MGD, Delhi produced 1,002 MGD on June 6 which is hardly 0.5 per cent less, while on June 13 the production was 939 MGD that is 7 per cent less," he said in a statement.

Atishi should explain why a shortfall of 0.5 per cent to 7 per cent in water production has caused a widespread shortage of water across the city, he asked.

Delhi would be getting adequate supply had the Kejriwal government paid attention to preventing leakages and checking theft that account for 54 percent of available water, he said.

"It is shameful that instead of working round the clock to fix leakages and check theft, Atishi is working round the clock to spread fake stories and feeding misleading information to Delhiites through media and social media," Sachdeva alleged.

He claimed that while theft and leakages account for 54 percent of total water production in normal days, it has increased to 75 per cent mainly due to the tanker mafia activities. PTI VIT VIT TIR TIR