The BJP on Friday sought a criminal investigation into the “disappearance” of potable water alleged to have caused a loss of ₹1161.45 crore to the state exchequer.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta urged Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to institute a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's claim of “disappearance of more than half of potable water in the distribution channel” causing “grievous loss of revenue to the government”.
“During the financial year 2016-17, the revenue loss was ₹1161.45 crore. The government is taking lightly criminal loss of not only revenue but also precious water. I wonder how, with revenue loss of 50%, the government claims that the Delhi Jal Board is running in a profit of ₹178 crore after giving a subsidy of ₹400 crore. The secret of profit is jugglery of figures,” Mr. Gupta alleged.
Heavy revenue loss
The senior Delhi BJP leader added that by his own admission, Mr. Kejriwal had stated that out of the city’s daily supply of 900 million gallons per day of treated water only 450 to 500 MGD reached the consumers.
Terming it a “heavy revenue loss” to the exchequer, the Rohini MLA demanded that Mr. Kejriwal apologise to Delhi’s citizens, especially the residents of 1,105 unauthorised colonies for “fake claims and a cruel joke” of supplying potable water.
“The Kejriwal government has totally failed in providing potable water to nearly 60% population of Delhi and has even failed to add a single MGD of potable water during more than two years of its tenure,” Mr. Gupta alleged.
“The actual daily available quantity of potable water is less than the quantity which was available at the time of formation of the AAP government because no additional quantity of potable water has been added, though an estimated 10 lakh population has increases since then,” he further alleged.
