Hitting out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue of water supply in the National Capital, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, on Monday, said the Centre never made any promise to the Delhi Chief Minister for 24-hour water supply, nor does the Centre have any source of water.

“Obviously, he (Arvind Kejriwal) is now trying to create an illusion that the Centre did not give the water, so Delhi is not getting 24-hour water supply,” Bidhuri said while addressing a press conference here.

Stating that now there is the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, Bidhuri demanded that 200 million gallons per day (MGD) of water should be supplied to Delhi immediately from Bhakra Dam in Punjab so that the National Capital’s water problem could be solved to some extent.

The Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly said the Kejriwal Government’s promise of a 24-hour water supply to Delhi has now proved to be another “bluff”.

Bidhuri said, “Kejriwal had come to power by promising 24-hour water supply in Delhi and even when he made this promise, he knew that it is not possible to give 24 hours supply to Delhi due to scarcity of water. However, to come to power like other false promises to the public, he also promised water.”

Delhi Pradesh BJP spokesperson Vikram Mittal was also present in the press conference.

Bidhuri said in the last eight years, the demand for water in Delhi has increased to 2200 MGD but only 900 MGD of water is available.

“The Delhi government could not even take any steps to increase the water supply. All the schemes made or announced by the Delhi government have proved to be empty,” he said.

Bidhuri said, “Kejriwal had claimed that he would take 200 MGD of water from Himachal Pradesh.”

“For this, an agreement was reached with Himachal Pradesh in November 2019 that water would be purchased at the rate of Rs 32 per thousand cubic feet. Neither was that money given nor was any arrangement made to bring water. Similarly, Kejriwal had claimed that 300 MGD of water would be stored in Palla. For this, it was claimed 250 rain wells and 100 tubewells of 24-inch dia will be installed. But the Kejriwal government failed to implement them as well,” the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly said.

Bidhuri said the Delhi Chief Minister had claimed that groundwater would be recharged by reviving water bodies in Bhalswa, Timarpur, Nilothi and Iradat Nagar.

“Crores of rupees were spent on this scheme but not a single drop of water was found. Kejriwal had also claimed that 200 MGD of water would be supplied to Delhi by saving rainwater. For this, a plan was made to rent the land of the farmers on the banks of the Yamuna,” Bidhuri said.

“A pilot project was also started in Palla but this plan also failed. Apart from this, it was said to bring 150 MGD of water from Muradnagar. In return, Delhi had to give 150 MGD of irrigation water to Uttar Pradesh. That plan also fizzled out,” the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly said.