Work underway in city to replace damaged pipelines: Verma

The Delhi government is committed to supplying clean drinking water as part of which 7,000 km of new pipelines will be laid in the next two-three years, Water Minister Parvesh Verma informed the Assembly on Friday.

Responding to questions and demands raised by BJP MLA Satish Upadhyay, Verma said in the past 11 months, Delhi government has started works worth Rs 7,212 crore.

“Delhi government is working with the Centre to provide drinking water to each household. But today, the problem we are facing is because of the previous AAP government. We have started 94 projects in water and sewer sector,” Verma said.

To increase drinking water production in the national capital, the city government is also in talks with neighbouring states.

“We are trying to get raw drinking water from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and in exchange give them treated water for irrigation purposes. This arrangement has the potential to add more than 100 MGD of water to the national capital’s total supply ,” Verma added.

The water minister also said that to reduce water contamination, broken and damaged pipeline replacement work has started.

“Water losses through Manak canal, which is around 40 per cent as of now, will be reduced to 5 per cent in the next two years. We have initiated a plan for that. This will also help in achieving our 24/7 water supply promise to very household of Delhi,” Verma said.

In order to boost water supply, the Delhi government is also reviving a water sharing project with Himachal Pradesh, he added.