Water shortage in Delhi: L-G says Atishi’s letter ‘insensitive’; she says his response shows apathy

In a letter to Saxena a day after a woman was stabbed to death in Shahdara following a quarrel over using water from a community tap, Atishi has demanded that the Delhi Jal Board CEO be suspended and an enquiry be set up to look into the actions of the chief secretary, among other officers.

Saxena’s Tuesday letter was addressed to Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case. The ED has alleged that bribes were paid to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders in exchange for a policy that favoured certain liquor businessmen. Pointing out that direct communication with Kejriwal was not possible, Saxena wrote: “I was deeply distressed at the insensitive communication from Water Minister Atishi on Sunday… She has chosen to use the unfortunate death of a woman in East Delhi for narrow, partisan political goals.”

Atishi, meanwhile, said she was also “disappointed” at the missive from the L-G as it was written after she requested him to “suspend an officer who has repeatedly refused, failed to carry out his duties, which, if he had undertaken on time, would have averted the crisis that the national capital is facing this summer”.

Saxena, calling Atishi’s note an “admission of guilt” of “inaction and inefficiency over the past 10 years”, said that similar incidents took place in Delhi over the years.

“Your minister’s hasty missive to me is an admission of these failures and defaults of performance of your government, and amount to facile attempts at shrugging responsibility off, a complex problem,” Saxena said, adding that while Delhi’s population had increased by 15 per cent over the past decade, the water treatment capacity grew from 906 to 946 million gallons daily.

He also said that the percentage of unaccounted for water — attributed to leakages, theft, and non-payment of bills — increased from 45% in 2015 to 58% in 2022-2023. “It simply shows that there has been no efforts, whatsoever, have been made in the past 10 years for plugging the leaks; we seem to be spending thousands of crores in pumping water into a leaking bucket,” the L-G wrote.

Atishi, meanwhile, said that the Delhi government had requested Saxena’s intervention in matters of “elementary governance functions”, which has been “brought to a standstill due to acts and omissions of the officers”. “In this long period, you have maintained stoic silence and complete apathy towards the water-related woes of people of Delhi. But when the actual culprit of this criminal negligence and misfeasance was brought before you, that was when you decided to speak in his defence, which the whole of Delhi knows, is legally and morally indefensible,” she added.

She further said that Kejriwal had issued directions in May 2023, asking officers to prepare borewells and rainey wells, and held several review meetings regarding water issues, but work had been stalled after funds were not released.