Delhi Water Minister Atishi said here on Thursday that she directed the chief secretary to personally monitor establishment of an ammonia treatment plant at Warzirabad to avoid shortage of water in the national capital.
The minister was prompted to take up the issue with the chief secretary in the wake of Ammonia level in the Yamuna rising to 2.8 ppm affecting the Chandrawal and Wazirabad treatment plants due to which production of water reduced by up to 50 per cent.
The contamination of water has, on an average, had an impact of about 35- 40 per cent total water production.
The crisis adversely impacted almost one-fourth of the national capital, especially in densely populated areas such as Sadar Bazar, Civil Lines, Old Delhi, Mukherjee Nagar, Burari, Patel Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Karol Bagh, Majnu Ka Tilla, ISBT, Barafkhana, Bara Hindu Rao, Kamala Nagar, Roop Nagar to name a few, Atishi’s letter added.
In her letter, Atishi asked the top official to float a tender for the project by January 15. She directed him to submit a report citing reasons for the delay in the project and inform about the timeline for the completion of the same.
She expressed concern over the fact that the spike in the ammonia levels in Yamuna water is affecting the water supply in the city.
She further regretted that rising level of Ammonia in the river has now become an annual feature which is affecting lives the residents of the national capital.
Chief Minister Arvind Kwejriwal had held a meeting of the Delhi Jal Board officials in the month of March to address the issue and discussed the problem at length. In the meeting, it was decided that immediate solution to this crisis was treatment of Ammonia inside Wazirabad pond.
At the meeting, the CM had directed the DJB to set up an Ammonia treatment plant in Wazirabad, the work for which was to be finished within 6 months. However, despite a follow-up, the project remained a nonstarter, Atihsi lamented.
She called it a serious lapse on the part of the DJB.