New Delhi: Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan Thursday hit back at the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, saying that 95 per cent of children in Delhi are afflicted by diseases caused by drinking impure water or water pollution.
Addressing a press conference, Paswan reiterated that the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi should take responsibility and apologise on national television, as the agency that is supposed to provide quality tap water — the Delhi Jal Board — comes under it.
Paswan’s statement comes after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal raised various questions over the authenticity of the Bureau of Indian Standards’ tap water quality test results. Among other things, Kejriwal and his AAP also levelled the charge that ministry and BIS officials who conducted the tests didn’t take tap water samples from the places they claimed.
However, the minister responded by alleging that AAP MLAs are intimidating residents into saying that no sample was procured from their homes.
“A resident of Burari named Deepak Roy denied any tap water sample was taken from his house on camera, but he had an AAP MLA sitting beside him,” Paswan said.
BIS director general Pramod Tiwari, who was also present at the press conference, said: “Two of our scientists named Rajat Gupta and Jayachandra Babu went to Deepak Roy’s residence and even called him on 30 September and 1 November.”
Also read: In poll-bound Delhi, AAP and BJP face-off over quality of water
Political appointment in water quality committee
Paswan also said he had received no correspondence about a 32-member committee on water quality formed by the Delhi government, and had heard about it only through the media.
He said upon hearing about it, the government has nominated the names of 32 scientists from the BIS, whereas AAP has nominated Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohania, in a clear bid to allege political interference by the Kejriwal government.
He also said he suspects that for a counter-test, the Delhi Jal Board will take samples from places where it is fixing pipes, rather than from all constituencies and wards in the capital.
Paswan said Kejriwal is creating an unnecessary furore, because many state capitals have also failed the BIS test. He said the Delhi government shouldn’t run away from the results, but make a joint committee to test water and make the results public by 31 December.
Make BIS norms mandatory
Paswan also said that his ministry has written to all state secretaries to make BIS water quality norms mandatory, instead of voluntary.
An official from the ministry told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity: “A meeting was held between representatives of the health, Jal Shakti and consumer affairs ministries to make BIS water supply standards mandatory. The Ministry of Health has refused to take the initiative, while Jal Shakti has asked for some time.
Also read: AAP, Centre talking of Delhi’s poor water is great. But it can’t end as political face-off