New Delhi: The Delhi BJP Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's announcement to waive water arrears was a "lollipop" for Delhiites ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections and alleged that half of the residents in the city were deprived of piped water supply
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta asked the AAP government to bring out a white paper on water supply in the city and alleged that the announcement was made after the government collected crores of rupees as arrears with penalties.
"Crores of rupees have already been paid by people as arrears and penalties. So, this is nothing but a lollipop to the people before the assembly elections," Gupta said.
Delhi BJP vice president and a member of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Jai Prakash, however, welcomed the decision seeking part of its credit for his party. He also questioned the timing of the move. "We welcome the decision, but the credit goes to us also. We raised the issue of inflated bills at every meeting of the Delhi Jal Board for two years. Why didn't they do it earlier? Why now? Just because the elections are nearing?" he asked.
Gupta claimed that half of the residents in the city were deprived of piped water. In many areas complaints of supply of contaminated water is also common, he said at a press conference at Delhi BJP office.
"Kejriwal is trying to hide failures of his government in ensuring proper water supply across the city. He also claimed that his government has checked tanker mafia while in past 4.5 years only two water tankers were caught while around 2,000 private tankers operate in the city," Gupta claimed.