From revenue generation to making the organisation more transparent and corruption-free, Delhi Jal Board vice-chairperson Kapil Mishra talks about the Aam Aadmi Party Government’s plan for water services as summer sets in the Capital.
How will this summer be different from the last in terms of water?
For the first time, all the nine water treatment plants in Delhi are working. We are heading into summer with more water. We have held meetings with representatives and officials of each Assembly constituency, and are working on the specific problems of each area. Though the new plants at Dwarka and Bawana are not currently working at full capacity, we hope to ramp up production in the next two months.
How will you make sure the water reaches the intended consumer? And how will you address corruption?
We have started work on making the live-tracking of our water tankers public. Currently, about half of our 800 tankers have been fitted with GPS devices. This has been done by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System. Officials of the DJB have this data currently, but we want to make it available for the public on our website and through a mobile app.
The location of the tanker, its schedule and how much time it will take to reach will be available online in 15-20 days. This will address corruption as the tanker mafia that diverts tankers from their routes will not be able to do so.
Since your party has decided against the annual water tariff hike, how do you intend on increasing revenue?
We have ways to make the DJB profitable without adding to the consumers’ burden. We are considering putting advertisements on our tankers. This will help us recover the cost of the tanker and its running. Apart from commercial advertisements, we can put social messages or popularise government schemes. I have asked for a policy to be drafted on the same. We are also considering using DJB properties to increase revenue by mounting unipoles and mobile towers on the premises.
We are heading into summer with more water
