New Delhi: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Shri Subhash Chopra announced that if the Congress party comes to power in Delhi, it will introduce a “cashback scheme” to encourage water conservation. He said that those households who save water from the present 20,000-litre free water per family, will benefit from this scheme. Shri Chopra declared that the Congress slogan will be “Paani Sabka Adhikar, Bhavishya Ka Rakhna Khyal”. He said that the present free water scheme has not specified whether it is for a family comprising of how many members. He said that because of that, it is being misused by those with lesser number of members or locked houses.
Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan here today, along with chief spokesperson Shri Mukesh Sharma, Shri Subhash Chopra said that if water is not conserved, Delhi will head for a ‘Water War’, as observed by the Supreme Court in 2018. Ms. Alka Lamba, MLA was also present at the press conference. (A detailed document with data is attached).
Shri Subhash Chopra said that the cash-back scheme will be introduced as part of the Congress’ “Paani Bachao—Dilli Bachao” campaign. He said that the Kejriwal Government introduced free water as a vote bank politics. Shri Chopra said that the Congress will keep the free water scheme, but it will also keep in mind the likelihood of a future ‘water war’ and that was the main reason for the party taking a decision to reward those who save water. He said that Congress will pay 30 paise for every litre of water saved which will be directly transferred into the consumers’ account.
Shri Subhash Chopra said that in the past six years, 70 per cent ground water has depleted in Delhi. He said that the Supreme Court had warned the Delhi Jal Board in 2018 said that if the water situation remains precarious in Delhi, then there was the possibility of a “water war” in future. Shri Chopra said that 25 per cent water is going waste as people were getting dirty water for which the Delhi Government is fully responsible. He said that to purify one litre water through RO, three litre water goes waste. He said that the Central Ground Water Board had suggested that there was an urgent need to bring a scheme to save water.
Shri Subhash Chopra and Shri Mukesh Sharma alleged that the water mafia was active with the connivance of the Kejriwal Government and was misusing the free water scheme. They said that the cashback offer will save 25 to 30 per cent water. They said that according to a UN report, a person needs 50 to 100 litres of water daily but according to a survey, a person gets 85 litres of water daily in Delhi. They appealed to the NGOs involved in the conservation of water to support the Congress scheme rising above politics.
Shri Mukesh Sharma said that there is a steep rise of 40 per cent in the rates of water tankers. He said that with the tacit support of the Kejriwal Government, the tanker mafia was selling drinking water many times more than the DJB rates. He said that the DJB has no data regarding how much water is being used by each consumer. He clarified that if the Congress scheme is implemented, a family could save up to 5000 litres of water for which they will get a cash back of Rs 1500.
Ms. Alka Lamba said that the water mafia was very active in Old Delhi which was misusing the free water scheme by selling bottled water at many times higher rate. She alleged that because of the carelessness of the Delhi Jal Board, 40 per cent water is lost in transit as the free water scheme is not at all effective.
