AAP's Saurabh Bhardwaj suspects water leakage being done "deliberately," asks people to be vigilant

New Delhi: As the water crisis in the national capital deepens, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj alleged that the water leakages are being deliberately carried out by some people to sabotage the pipelines.
Bhardwaj's remarks came after some nuts and bolts holding the pipes in South Delhi were found cut leading to water leakage.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader also asked locals to be vigilant and keep an eye on people trying to tamper with the water pipelines.
Speaking to ANI on the issue on Sunday Saurabh said, "A few days ago, some videos were made viral by certain people that there is a lot of leakage in Delhi. I don't think that the leakage is natural, I think some people are deliberately causing leakage. Yesterday, the nuts and bolts holding the pipes in South Delhi were found cut, who cut those six nuts? Because of that, there was no water in the entire South Delhi.
He also urged people to keep an eye on these incidents alleging that some "enemies of society" are conspiring to sabotage these pipelines.
"I would request the public to keep an eye on this because some people are conspiring to break these pipelines...some people are enemies of society who are conspiring to sabotage these pipelines," he added.
Meanwhile, Delhi Water Minister Atishi on Sunday wrote a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, urging the deployment of police personnel to protect major pipelines in the national capital.
She mentioned that the maintenance team worked for six hours to repair the leakage problem, exacerbating the water crisis in South Delhi.
"I am writing to request deployment of police personnel to patrol and protect our major pipelines for the next 15 days to stop miscreants or people with ulterior motives from tampering with water pipelines which have now become Delhi's lifelines. At this juncture, any foul play and sabotage will worsen the already difficult water shortage being faced by the people of Delhi," the letter stated.
"Our maintenance team worked for six hours continuously and repaired the leakage, but this meant that we had to stop pumping water for 6 hours and 20 MGD of water was not pumped during this time. As a consequence, a further 25 per cent of water shortage will be experienced in South Delhi," it added.
"Delhi Jal Board has patrolling teams for our main water distribution network that carries raw water to the Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) and then from our WTPs to our main underground reservoirs in different parts of the city. In addition, we have deployed teams under the supervision of ADMs to support in this work," it added.
Speaking to ANI on the water crisis in Delhi, Atishi said if the Centre does not intervene in the situation, it will not improve and the BJP should talk to its government in Haryana and get more water for Delhi.
"Yesterday, the main water pipeline of South Delhi, which comes from Sonia Vihar, provides water to the entire South Delhi, there was a leakage in that water pipeline. It seems that some conspiracy is going on and I have also written a letter to the Police Commissioner today in this regard."
"I have also spoken to the Police Commissioner that the main water distribution lines should be provided security by the police. But this is not the time for allegations and counter-allegations, this is not the time for dirty politics. There is a whole life for allegations and counter-allegations. I would request the BJP to talk to its government in Haryana and get more water for Delhi. If the central government does not intervene in this situation, it will not improve," Atishi added.
Meanwhile, the BJP held a protest against water crisis in the National Capital on Sunday. BJP MP from West Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat and other party workers also held another 'Matka Phod' (break earthen pots) protest in Delhi's Najafgarh.