NEW DELHI: It took the intervention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and continued pressure from the Left parties, eminent citizens and non-government organisations for the Delhi Jal Board to withdraw its loan application to World Bank for implementation of the 24X7 scheme, something that the Delhi Government till recently seemed determined to implement notwithstanding protests and public outcry.

For her part, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who is also chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board, maintained that no privatisation was taking place but at the same time did not stop the process for privatisation of two zones in South Delhi. Also, Ms. Dikshit, like in the case of the power crisis, initially termed the protests as arising out of lack of understanding of the issue.

However, later the Chief Minister invited all parties concerned for negotiations and promised transparency in all the dealings, but failed to keep her assurances.

A gag order was put in place and information about details of reforms in the water sector were not put on the website and documents were not made available to NGO Parivartan.

"The failure of the Delhi Jal Board to take part in the public hearing held on October 17 aggravated our fears that something was fishy in this whole affair. All eminent citizens, IIM and IIT alumni, experts and social activists had voiced their concern over the project. Renowned author and social activist Arundhati Roy and social activist and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy also lent their voice to the manner in which the whole issue was being handled. This further emboldened us to get to the basics and not allow this project to take off,'' remarked Parivartan convenor Arvind Kejriwal.

It was pressure from Ms. Gandhi, who was informed about the repercussions of the project by various experts, eminent citizens and Ms. Roy -- who is also a member of the National Advisory Council -- that really worked. It is learnt that Ms. Gandhi had got it conveyed to the Delhi Government that she was against such a project that had already created an outcry and directions were issued to address the issue keeping in mind public sentiments.

On the other hand, the both the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and Communist Party of India (CPI) also issued warnings of serious action.

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