Delhi has been plunged into a ‘living hell’ by a manufactured financial crisis at the Delhi Jal Board, says Delhi Water and Finance Minister Atishi in a written communication to the Chief Secretary, slamming the CS for the alarming state of sewer overflows in the national capital. Taking action after repeated complaints, Minister Atishi personally inspected affected areas, declaring that it is now the Chief Secretary’s personal responsibility to resolve the crisis.
Expressing her displeasure at the shocking state of sewer overflow in the national capital, Delhi Water Minister Atishi pulls up the Chief Secretary stating that Yesterday, she visited Mohan Garden D Block, A-Extension Mohan Garden and DK Road in Uttam Nagar after getting repeated complaints from residents regarding sewer related problems. I have been informed that on numerous occasions local residents and the area MLA, Naresh Balyan, had sent these grievances to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). These grievances also reached me via emails and social media. “When I reached there, the state of sewer overflow was absolutely shocking. These localities have been turned into a living hell. This kind of sewage overflow is a breeding ground for several diseases and can cause a serious public health crisis,” she added.
The Delhi Water Minister continued, “When I spoke to the residents of the area, they informed me that they have lived in this locality for years but have never seen this kind of a sewerage crisis. They told me that when they give their complaints to the DJB field staff they are told: ‘We lack machines. We don’t have enough staff for sewer maintenance. We can’t replace the sewer lines due to budget constraints. We can’t increase the number of sewer machines due to a lack of funds’ (originally in Hindi).”
The Delhi Minister further added that the MLA of the area Naresh Balyan informed her that till last year 73 contractual manpower were deployed for maintenance of sewer and water pipelines. However, this year it has been reduced to merely 18 people. Last year, 14 sewer cleaning machines were deployed in the entire Uttam Nagar constituency which have now been reduced to just 7 machines.
“I fail to understand how sewer maintenance and removal of sewer blockages can be done if there are inadequate machines and manpower is available on the ground. When the MLA took up this issue with officers of DJB, he was informed that machine and manpower reduction has been done due to lack of funds with the DJB. I was aghast when I heard this statement,” said the Delhi Finance Minister.
The Delhi Finance Minister expressed that the DJB is a critical civic utility. The national capital could come to a standstill if DJB fails to do its work properly. A budget of Rs.7195.00 crore has been passed by the Delhi assembly which is 9.5% of the total budget of Government of NCT of Delhi. This budget has been approved by the Council of Ministers, the LG, MHA and the Delhi Assembly. However, in this entire financial year only Rs.400 crores have been released to the DJB so far.
Minister Atishi shared that files keep shuttling between DJB, Urban Development Department and Finance Department but the DJB remains starved of funds, this is the reason why the DJB is in a crisis. “Delhi has been turned into a living hell because an artificial financial crisis has been created in DJB. This cannot be allowed to go on. When the government has allocated a large budget for the DJB, proper deployment of machinery and manpower needs to be done on the ground. Otherwise, the officers busy shuttling the files and causing a financial crisis in DJB will be held responsible for creating a public health crisis and epidemic-like situation in Delhi,” she added.
Acting upon this, Minister Atishi directs the Chief Secretary to:
1. Ensure adequate deployment of manpower and machinery in every part of the city to ensure that there are no sewer overflows causing inconvenience to the people of Delhi.
2. Ensure release of funds to the DJB from the budget that has been allocated to them within the next 48 hours.
3. Take the strongest possible action against all officers responsible for creating this artificial fund crisis that has brought Delhi on the verge of a major public health crisis.
“It will be the personal responsibility of the Chief Secretary to oversee the resolution of the sewer related crisis that has been created in Delhi,” Minister Atishi affirmed.
