BJP protests outside Kejriwal’s house over water, power crises

Says govt has not prepared a proper ‘summer action plan’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence at Civil Lines over what they alleged was poor power and water supply in the city, on Thursday.

The protesters, led by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, were stopped by the police at a barricade and escorted from the scene only to be released after a brief detention. The police also had to use water cannons to control the situation even as the contingent of BJP workers demanded to meet Mr. Kejriwal.

‘Frequent outages’

“It is the Kejriwal government’s callousness that is responsible for the power and water shortage in the city,” Mr. Tiwari told reporters. He further alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had not prepared a ‘summer action plan’ to ensure a proper supply of power and water in the hot summer months and the power infrastructure also had not been augmented, leading to frequent faults and outages.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta claimed that the government did not buy enough electricity, which resulted in frequent power cuts across the city. “The Kejriwal government has allowed the private operators to short-purchase electricity as it is in connivance with them,” he alleged.