NGT raps Delhi Jal Board for supplying sewage mixed drinking water

The National Green Tribunal has pulled up Delhi Jal Board for supplying non-potable water to Janakpuri residents in the capital.

Households in the area were allegedly supplied sewage-mixed drinking water.

In an order on May 14, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said, “Supply of drinking water which is unfit to the residents of the city is very serious matter but ignoring such a seriousness the DJB has not taken expeditious action to remediate it and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has not done the needful to get the water sample report expeditiously in terms of the previous order of the tribunal.”

The bench also comprising judicial members Justices Sudhir Agarwal and Arun Kumar Tyagi, and expert member Afroz Ahmad, directed the CPCB to collect water samples from the area and file a fresh report.

The tribunal specified that the samples had to be collected from 10 new and old locations each without informing any authority, including DJB, and that the samples had to be analysed expeditiously, particularly for faecal coliform and E. coli bacteria.

Denouncing DJBs conduct, the tribunal said, “The DJB has filed the affidavit dated April 5, making an effort to show the action which has been taken, but unless the water supplied to the residents of the concerned area is found to be fit for drinking, it cannot be said that adequate action has been taken by the DJB.”

The NGT then summoned the DJBs chief engineer on the next hearing on May 30 to find a permanent solution for the issue.

A resident welfare association from the area moved the green body and claimed corroded water supply pipelines led to the mixing of untreated sewage with the drinking water.

During the proceedings, the applicant’s counsel said the residents were suffering after consuming the contaminated water, and one of the residents was hospitalised after being diagnosed with Hepatitis A and E. coli.