North, central Delhi continue to remain parched as DJB repairs delayed

New Delhi
Water supply to multiple areas in north and central Delhi continued to be disrupted on Monday, as the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) continued to repair a major leakage in its supply line near the Kamla Market. The work — disrupting supply from Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants — was started on Sunday and was due to be completed in 12 hours, but it was delayed due to engineering complications, DJB officials said.
The areas impacted due to the shutdown include Matia Mahal, Chandni Chowk, Ballimaran, Karol Bagh, Patel Nagar, parts of Sadar Bazar, Rajinder Nagar, NDMC areas, Ashok Vihar, Tri Nagar, Cantonment areas and Lawrence Road.
A senior DJB official, not wishing to be named, said that “water supply to many areas has resumed” and remaining parts will “start getting water in the morning supply shift”.
However, residents’ bodies were outraged over the lack of supply.
Ashok Bhasin, who heads the North Delhi Residents Welfare Association, said: “How can such a large unplanned water disruption be undertaken without warning the residents beforehand? Over the past two days, we have been hearing that water supply will resume soon but it has not materialised into action. Now, we are being told that the water supply will resume on Tuesday morning.”
DJB’s advisory issued at 12.25am on Sunday said there would be a 12-hour shutdown to repair the leakage of the water main supply line on an urgent basis from 10.30pm on August 31 to 10.30am on September 1. “The shutdown of Wazirabad water treatment plant phase 2 and Chandrawal WTP is required for a period of 12 hours to attend to leakage through supply line Kamla market, Asaf Ali Road,” the advisory said.
Delay in repair work forced the water utility to issue a second statement on September 1 extending the shutdown period further till 12.30am on September 2 but to no avail.
Rajendra Srivastava, a resident of Patel Nagar said that an urgent 12-hour repair shutdown has been turned into a long dry spell. “It has been more than 48 hours but still there is no water in Patel Nagar. Condition is becoming worse,” he said.
Yogesh Jain, general secretary of the Daryaganj Federation of RWAs, said DJB did not issue a prior warning before starting the shutdown. “DJB keeps saying that water supply will resume but no water has been received till late night on Monday. People are somehow managing by purchasing water cans and with the help of few houses which have borewells. We tried to secure water tanker from DJB but the helpline was not responsive,” he said.
Dheeraj Dubey, who heads the Walled City Residential Welfare Federation — a collective of RWAs in Old Delhi — said that the walled city has been severely impacted. “First, we had this major breach of sewer line near the Old Delhi Railway station, which has been left unrepaired. On top of it, we have no water supply for the past two days. All areas of Walled City from Tilak Bazar, Nai Basti, Rangmahal to Chandni Chowk are impacted. We keep facing water supply problems every other week,” he said.