Opposition cries hoarse over water scarcity

The water scarcity issue was discussed the most during the second day of the Legislative Assembly session, with opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs raising slogan pani do, pani do inside the House.

Several MLAs raised the issue of water scarcity in their respective constituencies demanding Delhi Jal Board chairperson and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to take action and plan for adequate water supply in the city.

MLA Subhash Sachdeva, who tonsured his head to protest against irregular supply of water in his constituency Moti Nagar, raised the issue again on Tuesday stating that water was a major problem and that the government should take serious action to solve it.

Kirari MLA Anil Jha said, 'Water tanks do not reach our constituency and tube wells don't have water either. This is the only constituency in Vidhan Sabha where 100 per cent water scarcity is prevailing. We want Rs 500 crore for our development.'

Speaker Yoganand Shastri said, 'Earlier, in south Delhi, we had water 60 feet underground. But now, even at 550 feet, water is hard to find. Water is a problem everywhere and in South America a water riot situation also happened. A situation like that should not take place in our country and we should conserve water as much as we can.'

Later, the Leader of Opposition, V K Malhotra, said that a speaker should not come to the defence of the chief minister.  

Hearing this, Dikshit said in anger, 'We should discuss the matter as much as possible, but should not disrespect the Speaker of the House, who is supreme to us. I object to this.'