Inhabitants of the Muslim dominated colonies like Abul Fazal Enclave and Shaheen Bagh in Jamia Nagar area are forced to purchase drinking water from daily water vendors, due to non-availability of piped water supply from the Delhi Jal Board. This has also led to mushrooming of at least 100 illegal water bottling units in the area, where water is packed in unlabelled bottles without following any health norms.
Abul-Fazal Enclave is one of the 1,073 colonies, which was selected for authorisation in 1993 by former BJP Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana.
“Over 100 illegal packaged-water bottle units exist here. They supply water without labels of licensed manufacturers, putting the health of millions of people at risk,” said civil engineer Abdul Qayum.
“Such illegal units are mostly located on the Abul-Fazal and Shaheen Bagh’s streets. They hardly meet the standards of water purification,” said Ansar Ahmad, a resident.
Inhabitants of Abul-Fazal enclave and Shaheen Bagh say that every apartment has its own bore-well, but the water can’t be used for cooking or drinking purposes.
Several times, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her son former MP of East Delhi had promised supply of Delhi Jal Board water, but they could not fulfil their promise. Even former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan, who was member of Delhi Jal Board, ignored this issue.
In fact, the Delhi High Court had asked the government agencies in May 2010 to track down the bottling units selling water without licence and proper certification from BIS.
Shaheen Bagh Resident’s Welfare Association said that for the past several years, illegal bottled-water suppliers have been thriving in these areas. The areas account for 50 per cent of such units operating from within tiny rooms.
Acute water crisis especially erupts in these localities during Muslim festivals, when all the water vendors go on leave for long periods.