Anger spills over on Delhi streets at water, power woes

Protests in the national capital over acute water and power scarcity continued Tuesday with angry residents hitting the streets in several parts of the city, despite the heat and humidity.

Dabri in west Delhi and Vishwas Nagar in east Delhi saw people blocking roads. They said little was being done to address their complaints.

People in the Dabri area blocked a road, leading to traffic jams and also burnt effigies of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and their newly elected MP Mahabal Mishra.

"For the last 15 days we have not got water properly. Either the water does not come at all or when it does, the pressure is very low," said Sachin Singh, a resident of the area.

The residents alleged that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was supplying water to Dwarka in southwest Delhi but not to their area.

People in the Vishwas Nagar area also blocked the roads creating a huge traffic jam.

"We don't have water and we don't have electricity. What are we supposed to do in this condition in the peak of summers? Our children are suffering and we have nothing to do," said Sanjeev Sharma, a resident of Vishwas Nagar area.

Suffering from the same problem, people in the Tis Hazari in north Delhi are also gearing up to protest over the issue.

"DJB is not addressing our complaints. The water being supplied is very dirty and if you don't use the filter you can't drink the water. But people who can't afford a filter are forced to drink it," said Anil Sharma, a resident of the area.

"DJB and electricity officials listen to our problems but don't do anything to solve them. Sometimes they show up after 12 hours of our complaint," he added.

In the last two days, Dikshit has held meetings with the BSES and DJB. While BSES has been warned by the chief minister to take care of power outages, DJB has been asked to penalise anyone found wasting water.

The capital's power demand rose to 4,261 MW, the highest ever this season, Monday.

Delhi's estimated 14.8 million people require 3,973 million litres of water per day (MLD). According to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report, while the DJB purportedly supplies 3,336.9 MLD - which is far lower than the demand - the actual quantity reaching the end user is just 1,768.56 MLD.

Last updated on Jun 30^th, 2009 at 14:19 pm IST--IANS