BJP leaders from Haryana Tuesday strongly condemned accusations made by Arvind Kejriwal regarding alleged poisoning of the river Yamuna, calling them ‘baseless’ and ‘misleading,’ and demanded an apology from the AAP chief over the issue.
BJP MPs from the neighbouring state of Haryana, including Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh, Rajya Sabha MPs Ram Chander Jangra, Kiran Choudhry, Rekha Sharma and saffron party’s national spokesperson Rajeev Jaitley addressed a press conference at the Delhi BJP office, where they presented detailed information about the water quality of the Yamuna in their state to the journalists, claiming that clean water is being supplied from their state.
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Dharambir Singh stated that for the past few days, former Delhi CM Kejriwal has been making statements that are troubling even the people of Haryana.
He mentioned that on one side of the Yamuna is Uttar Pradesh, and on the other side is Haryana, which only releases 300 cusecs of water into the Yamuna.
Mentioning Tajewala headworks, he claimed that only 300 cusecs of water are released, except during the monsoon season, and it does not reach Delhi.
Singh further said that this is done to ensure that the river doesn’t dry up and animals don’t die, as per the Supreme Court’s order.
The leader further stated that Haryana has provided over 10,000 cusecs of water to Delhi, it is supplied in large quantities through Haryana’s ‘West Yamuna Canal,’ which is entirely cemented, and it includes the water from Bhakra.
He said that all that water is then supplied to Delhi through pipelines and transported to various treatment plants, where it is treated and then people receive drinking water, meaning no sewage water is mixed in it.
On AAP chief’s accusations, he further said that the canal through which water is sent to Delhi also supplies water to other areas of Haryana, but there are no complaints from those areas.
Slamming Kejriwal, the BJP leader claimed that he himself receives treatment in a hospital in Bangalore, but the common man of Delhi cannot afford to go to Bangalore for treatment.
RS MP Kiran Choudhry called Kejriwal’s statements unfortunate, and said that a former CM speaking in such a manner is something very surprising.
The BJP leader claimed that the BOD level (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) level of Haryana are absolutely correct, and exuded confidence stating that anyone can confirm this.
She alleged that when river water passes through Wazirabad in Delhi, sewage is dumped into it, along with polythene and other dirty materials.
Slamming Kejriwal, she said that he had promised to clean the Yamuna, but in present times, poisonous white foam has settled on the Yamuna in Delhi.
She further hit out at the AAP government claiming that the national capital has a total of 37 water treatment plants, but only 17 of them are functional, adding that had all of them been working, the people of Delhi wouldn’t have to face the problem of polluted water.
The BJP leader further claimed that TDS rating above the Wazirabad barrage is 440, and a rating between 300-500 means the water is not fit for drinking, while it has a BOD of 6 mg per litre, and after that, it increases so much that the water becomes poisonous.
According to her, when the water reaches Palwal and Nuh in Haryana, it is highly polluted, and even the STPs are not able to do their job of bringing the water level to 10 BOD and 10 TDS.
She questioned Delhi government’s claims of trapping 70 per cent of the drains falling into the Yamuna, asking if that is the case, then why is the water quality not at 30 BOD.
RS MP Rekha Sharma emphasized that the DJB comes under the Delhi government, and if they are making such statements, and yet Kejriwal has made his remarks rejecting the water board’s claims, then he should apologize to the public.
She stressed that Kejriwal should apologize to the people of Haryana because the accusations are not just against the government, but also against the people of the state.
