NEW DELHI: The residents' welfare associations of East Delhi came down heavily on the Delhi Government's 24X7 water scheme at a public meeting on Sunday, questioning the wisdom of the authorities in attempting to implement what they called a "mindless and illogical project''.

The meeting was attended by representatives from Federations and RWAs from Mayur Vihar Phase-I, I P Extension and Vasundhara Enclave. "We will not allow the Government to sign this agreement with the World Bank or water companies under any circumstances. In the name of reforms, the Government cannot be allowed to ruin the water sector. We elected the Government to provide us good governance. The Government cannot abdicate its responsibility and hand over the people of Delhi in the hands of water sharks," said the general secretary of the Federation of RWAs in Mayur Vihar, Mukesh Sharma.

Project

The president of Federation of RWAs from I P Extension, Bindal exhorted people to flood Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit with letters demanding withdrawal of this project. "The Government will not be able to ignore the voices of so many people,'' he added.

It was decided that RWA representatives would call their executive committee meetings to decide whether to stop payments of water bills if the Government did not withdraw this project.

The gathering demanded immediate withdrawal of loan application to the World Bank. However, members were of the view that that DJB was in a mess and needed to be reformed. But the reforms should be carried out in consultation with the people and not under pressures from the World Bank.

It was pointed out that 220 litres of water (11 buckets) was available for every citizen of Delhi every day. After deducting 40 per cent leakages, the net availability comes to around 130 litres per capita per day (lpcd). This was very high compared to most European nations, where people get best services at just 140 lpcd.

Though we have sufficient water, we do not know where the water is going? This is a big mystery.

Unfortunately, the consultants hired under 24X7 project do not investigate this problem. The project only lays down the roadmap for handing over DJB's management to some multi-national companies under the belief that this would solve all the problems of Delhi's waters,'' said a member.

The residents demanded that the Government appoint an agency, independent of the World Bank to investigate in detail where the water was going. "Unless we have that study, we cannot be talking of solutions," said the secretary of the Federation of Mayur Vihar RWAs, A K Jain.

Some residents pointed out that while there was no water in the taps but there was sufficient water in bottles, cans and tankers operated by private vendors.

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