DELHI JAL BOARD ACTS AGAINST WATER MAFIA

DJB ACTS AGAINST WATER MAFIA

Under the direction of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the NCT of Delhi, Shri Arvind Kejriwal, a Taskforce was set-up to carry-out a drive against the “water mafia.” This is the first time such a team has been set-up by the Delhi Jal Board to root-out such unscrupulous elements.

The Taskforce was mandated to find out the discrepancies being caused in DJB’s water distribution services by the Jal mafia, subsequently causing inconvenience to DJB customers.

Delhi Jal Board has been acting promptly on recommendations made by the Taskforce as they are being received. Based on this, DJB carried out an operation which provides an example of how a coordinated effort by different departments can lead to the delivery of public good for the economically weaker sections.
Following the inputs from the Taskforce, headed by the Additional CEO, DJB, it was found out that many tubewells had been illegally dug-out and installed in the Sangam Vihar and Devli village areas in South Delhi. It was noticed that these tubewells were dug and were operational on the public land. The water from the tubewells was being supplied to the neighbourhood at an exorbitant price of Rs. 700/- per family per month.

Based on these findings, CEO and other senior officers of DJB  also visited the Sangam Vihar area on Sunday, and apprised the Hon’ble CM of the situation, who gave an on-the-spot approval for the takeover of such illegal borewells  involved in the extraction of ground water for their commercial interests.

As a prompt response to the order, top officials from DJB held an immediate meeting with the Deputy Commissioner (Revenue), South District. It was decided to carry-out a massive combing operation by DJB, in coordination with the DC’s office and the assistance of the police authorities, where a large police force was also deployed to manage the situation.

Joint teams consisting of officers from DJB, DC’s office  and the police and led by Member(Water Supply) DJB and Chief Engineer (South) and DC South, swooped down on these illegally installed borewells in a planned and coordinated manner, and have taken over their possession on ‘as-is, where-is’ basis and DJB has installed its own electrical connections. The electrical connections of private operators have been removed and DJB has obtained new electricity connections overnight from BSES to operate these tubewells. The operation in this area is likely to last two days.

The DC’s office has been requested to lodge a complaint against the operators of these illegally installed borewells on public land in Sangam Vihar, who had been operating these borewells and extracting ground water for their commercial interests. A complaint has been lodged under the relevant provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

In order to provide security to the new installations, the RWA/residents who are direct beneficiaries have been asked to keep a vigil at these locations to thwart any possible attempt by vested interests to damage government property. DJB has also temporarily posted security guards at these installations to secure them.