Officers stopping funds for Delhi Jal Board: AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj

New Delhi: Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday said several projects of the Delhi Jal Board are stuck in a limbo due to a paucity of funds with officers obstructing money to the department.

During a discussion on the shortage of funds with the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the minister accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of knowing about the issue and not doing anything about it.

Following his speech, Delhi Assembly Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla referred the matter of DJB’s fund shortage to the Petitions Committee and directed the committee to submit its report in a month.

AAP and BJP MLAs indulged in a war of words over DJB projects. While AAP MLAs said that officers were not releasing funds which was hampering projects in their constituencies, BJP MLAs said that the AAP dispensation had grown a habit of blaming others for “its inefficiencies".

Replying to the discussion, Bharadwaj said, "During the coronavirus pandemic, metre readers did not go and bills were not generated. In some cases, where bills were generated, they were not paid. But this time, the DJB was functioning and salaries were being paid. The recurring expenses were paid using capital money. This amounted to Rs 1,500 crore."

The minister said that an official from the Finance Department questioned where the Rs 1,500 crore was spent.

"They questioned us on how we could spend capital money on revenue. We requested them for Rs 2,000 crore but they kept sending back files. They said they will give Rs 500 crore since Rs 1,500 crore is already there in your account," the minister said.

Bharadwaj told the assembly that in the last six months no new projects have been started since they don't have funds.

"One sends files to the Finance Department, which raises objections and sends the file back. This is happening because the Delhi government has no control over Services. The officers have been directed from above to not work. But those officers are accountable and something needs to be done about this," he said.

Lamenting that they have almost nil earnings, the minister said that the DJB incurs cost of laying water lines in unauthorised colonies, generation of water through internal sources, laying sewer lines in unauthorised colonies, sewer treatment and others.

"One needs Rs 1,000 crores for this. We have a budget of Rs 4,839 crore but earnings amount to Rs 1200 crore. It is obvious that you will go into debt," he observed.

Bharadwaj also said that the government had signed an MoU with Himachal Pradesh on using its share of water from Hathnikund Barrage.

"At Hathnikund Barrage from where flooding happened in Delhi, water is divided for every state. Water is also given to Himachal Pradesh but it cannot use that water owing to its location. We did an MoU with Himachal Pradesh saying we will buy this water. Haryana had problems with this since they had been using this water for free. The Haryana government said they will not allow for this water to go to Delhi," he alleged.

Bharadwaj also urged Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuhri to allow allocation of funds to the DJB.

"DJB is not the only department being harassed. The Petitions Committee of Delhi Assembly had received complaints. Earlier, data entry operators at government hospitals were removed, payments for free tests at Mohalla Clinics and old age pensions were also stopped," he alleged.