Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday promised to provide round-the-clock clean tap water supply across Delhi if voted to power in the Assembly election due in February next year.    

The announcement drew criticism from the Congress, with its Delhi chief Devender Yadav saying the promise has largely remained on paper during the 10-year rule of AAP in the Capital, forcing people to depend on “mafia-controlled water tankers” to meet their daily needs. 

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said despite adequate availability of “raw water”, Delhiites are facing a severe water crisis as treatment plants are not “functioning properly”. 

However, Mr. Kejriwal — a former Delhi Chief Minister — reaffirmed his commitment during a visit to Rajinder Nagar’s Pandav Nagar Delhi Development Authority (DDA) flats, where he launched the round-the-clock tap water supply.    

Accompanied by Chief Minister Atishi and area legislator Durgesh Pathak, Mr. Kejriwal said his promise of ensuring non-stop water supply by 2025 faced “a slight delay” due to the pandemic that lasted for over two years.

“Moreover, our team members were arrested in false corruption cases. There was a time when Manish Sisodia was in jail as was Satyendar Jain. They also imprisoned me,” the AAP chief said.   

AAP has in the past accused the BJP-led Centre of conspiring to imprison party leaders in corruption cases through the Central agencies.

“Now, we have overcome all these challenges. The pandemic is behind us and we have dealt with all their fake cases. In the next few years, we will ensure clean continuous water supply to the entire city,” asserted Mr. Kejriwal. 

The former CM said he has also prepared a detailed plan to meet the requirement of 1,250 million gallons per day (MGD) of water in coming years. 

  “In 2015, when we formed the government, Delhi produced around 900 MGD of water. Since then, we have added 100 MGD by drilling borewells along the Yamuna banks,” he said.   

“Right now, neighbouring States like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana are not providing us with additional water but we are exploring solutions to secure this,” he added. 

‘Potable water a luxury’

Reacting to it, the Delhi Congress chief said Mr. Kejriwal seems to be on an announcement-making spree but he must realise that in reality, “potable water is a luxury for Delhiites, who depend on the tanker mafia for this”.

“The only time the people of Delhi get uninterrupted water supply is during the monsoon when the whole of Delhi gets waterlogged due to the non-silting of drains and sewers ever since AAP assumed power in the Capital 10 years ago,” Mr. Yadav said. 

Mr. Sachdeva too accused the former CM of “selling false promises”. “The ground reality is that taps often run dry for several days. In many colonies, water is now supplied only once every two days,” he added.