Delhiites benefitting from the free water scheme will continue to get the relief in the next fiscal, with the government announcing that it will continue the subsidy in the Budget for 2016-17.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that about 10 lakh families had benefitted from the scheme that gives 20 kilolitres of water free of charge to all.
He said the government was committed to the policy of providing free lifeline water to all citizens.
Expansion of the piped water network, which currently reaches 81.9 per cent of Delhi, will be the main focus.
Reiterating the government’s promise to connect the whole city to the piped network by December 2017, Mr. Sisodia allocated Rs. 676 crore to extend the network to 300 unauthorised colonies.
Mr. Sisodia also made an ambitious statement of connecting the whole city to the sewerage network in eight to 10 years, instead of the deadline of 2036 set by the Sewerage Masterplan.
Taking into account the water crisis faced by Delhi when the Munak Canal was damaged recently, Mr. Sisodia said that the city needed to get its future under its control.
The Delhi Jal Board will be coming up with a comprehensive rainwater harvesting scheme, a water bodies’ revival policy and a summer action plan.
