Date:05/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/05/stories/2007060506600400.htm

New Delhi

`No policy to tide over water crisis'

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Harsh Vardhan on Monday demanded that Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit quickly find a solution to the acute water crisis in the Capital at a time when the summer is at its peak.

In a statement, Dr. Vardhan said mismanagement, wrong policies and corruption in the Delhi Jal Board were responsible for the situation.

He said no far-reaching policies had been framed over the past nine years for resolving the water problems due to which many parts of the city still do not have access to drinking water.

Stating that over 40 per cent of the water available with the Delhi Jal Board was lost in leakage and theft and that the water being supplied to the people was not worth drinking, the BJP leader said consumption of polluted water by citizens was a major cause of disease among children.

Dr. Vardhan accused the Jal Board of turning a blind eye to the situation. He charged that the phone numbers advertised for availing of water tanker service were never functional and that the water mafia was openly minting money.