New Delhi: Delhi Water Minister Atishi said Thursday the national capital has been turned into a "living hell" by an "artificial financial crisis" created at the Delhi Jal Board as she wrote to the chief secretary over the issue of "sewer overflow" at many places.
There was no immediate reaction from the chief secretary's office.
According to an official statement, Atishi personally inspected affected areas following several complaints and said it is now the chief secretary's responsibility to resolve the crisis.
She also noted that this kind of sewage overflow is a breeding ground for several diseases which can plunge the national capital into a serious public health crisis.
In the communication to the chief secretary, Atishi said she visited Mohan Garden D Block, A-Extension Mohan Garden and DK Road in Uttam Nagar on Wednesday after getting repeated complaints from residents regarding sewer-related problems.
She said she had been informed that on numerous occasions, local residents and the area MLA, Naresh Balyan, had sent 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.
Atishi noted that files keep shuttling among the DJB, the urban development department and the finance department but the DJB "remains starved of funds" and 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.
Atishi directed the chief secretary to 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.
She asked him to ensure the release of funds to the DJB from the budget that has been allocated to them within the next 48 hours and to 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," she said in the communication.
Talking about her visit to the Uttam Nagar area, she said local residents informed her that they have lived in that locality for years but have never been through such as crisis.
"They told me that when they give their complaints to the DJB field staff they are told: 'We lack machines. We do not have enough staff for sewer maintenance. We can not replace the sewer lines due to budget constraints. We can't increase the number of sewer machines due to a lack of funds'," she said.
The minister said the MLA of the area informed her that till last year, 73 contractual labourers were deployed for the maintenance of sewer and water pipelines. However, this year it has been reduced to merely 18. Last year, 14 sewer cleaning machines were deployed in the entire Uttam Nagar constituency which have now been reduced to just seven machines, she added.
"I fail to understand how sewer maintenance and removal of sewer blockages can be done if there are inadequate machines and manpower available on the ground. When the MLA took up this issue with officers of DJB, he was informed that machine and manpower reduction had been done due to a lack of funds with the DJB. I was aghast when I heard this statement," she said.
Noting that the DJB is a critical civic utility, she stressed that the national capital could come to a standstill if the DJB fails to do its work properly.
A budget of Rs 7,195 crore has been passed by the Delhi assembly which is 9.5 per cent of the total budget of the government 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," she claimed in the communication.