: The BJP on Monday accused the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) of having become “a centre of corruption” over a newly-approved model of more expensive airflow water meters, which were allegedly being promoted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to trigger hefty water bills.
Party president Satish Upadhyay called for an inquiry into the DJB’s affairs in relation to the approval of new IP68 meters, which he alleged would “cost twice to thrice more” despite being similar to meters currently in use.
“What is baffling is that Airflow Automated Meters (AMRs) currently available in the market cost around Rs. 700 to Rs. 800, but this new range of water meters has a vast variance of price between Rs. 1,300 and Rs. 2,200, which obviously means either there is a quality difference or companies have been allowed price variance in return of some favours to the ruling party,” Mr. Updhyay said.
“The people of Delhi have not forgotten those pictures of Arvind Kejriwal trying to push air into AMRs to prove that these meters run on air flow nor have they forgotten the F.I.R. that the Kejriwal cronies lodged against the Jal Board about these meters. Now in a public notice issued yesterday the Kejriwal government has ordered that consumers cannot replace AMRs,” Mr. Upadhyay said.
Water Minister Kapil Mishra accused Mr. Upadhyay of attempting to defend the water mafia operating in the Capital.
The meters being objected to by the BJP, Mr. Mishra said, were the first of their kind to meet the required statutory norms and would go a long way in ending black-marketing and overpricing of such devices in Delhi.
Striking back
Rebutting the BJP allegationsand stating that a list of establishments dealing in the newly-approved devices had been made public as per a government advertisement recently, Mr. Mishra said: “I believe the decision taken by the DJB should be replicated across the country at the earliest.”
“What is of essence here is the fact that whenever the DJB takes a step to end the hegemony of the water mafia operating in Delhi – whether it be new meters of the installation of GPS systems on water tankers – Mr. Upadhyay always has a problem; is this an attempt to defend the water mafia as per orders from the party's high command?” he asked.
