Serious anomalies in Delhi Jal Board in operation: BJP
Along with a number of party MLAs, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accused the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) of serious irregularities on Monday, calling the organization run by Arvind Kejriwal’s government a fraud. Sachdeva insisted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) look into the situation in detail.
Sachdeva said, “The Delhi government’s finance department has notified the Supreme Court that there is an amount of Rs 28,400 cr for which there is no account in the last nine years.”
“The water utility is currently drowning in debts of Rs 73,000 crores and a plan has been made to cheat the Delhi people for its repayment,” he said, referring to the scandal that began at the Jal Board in 2013.
Sachdeva expressed disapproval of the DJB’s lack of accountability and transparency, citing the absence of board account audits from 2016 to 2017. He underlined that the water company accounts for just 74% of its water consumption, which suggests a serious lack of financial monitoring.
The head of the BJP cited a letter that Atishi, the minister of water, sent on March 9 and that purportedly revealed further anomalies. Sachdeva said that the letter showed that 15% of water use was opaque and 59% of water produced no income at all. Currently, the Delhi Jal Board does not account for 74% of water. In other words, just 26 percent of the raw water is bringing in money for DJB. In addition to this, the 2021–22 accounts are absent as well. DJB has evolved into Kejriwal’s primary hub for corruption, according to Sachdeva.
Additionally, he criticized the “economic burden the Kejriwal government placed on residents of Delhi.” He pointed to the AAP government’s recent hikes in taxes and fees—especially those related to water infrastructure—as proof of its attempt to make up ground on losses.
Sachdeva’s words were echoed by Delhi BJP main spokesman Abhay Varma, an MLA who charged Kejriwal of lying about Mohalla Clinics. Varma said the Mohalla Clinics and the health department were rife with corruption and that malpractice plagued the whole system.
