A Chakka Jam Was Organised On the Main Road of Vasant Kunj
Residents of Vasant Kunj, Vasant Enclave & Vasant Vihar get their regular water supply from Sonia Vihar through the Delhi Jal Board. Recently, DJB informed different RWAs about shortage of water supply, hence sectors/ colonies started fulfilling the shortage through the bore well water in their respective areas and some got water tankers.
Dr. Nayan President of Vasant Enclave has reported that Vasant Enclave is facing acute water crisis for last 4 months as it’s dedicated water tank has been surreptitiously passed on to residents of Basant gaon. Since the number of votes is more in that area and the political will is to win more benefits for them and let residents of lesser votes suffer.
Now the supply is clubbed with Vasant Vihar and we have been deprived of pumps dedicated for the colony. This we are deprived of committed water time and very low pressures.
Numerous reminders to MVV and Jal board have fallen on deaf ears. Sadly even the elected representatives like MLA and councillor are not listening.
We request all concerned to work to restore the pressure and proper timing of water supply to Vasant enclave.
Also the dedicated underground watertank, which we had paid for as SFS payees, be returned back to us.
We believe the water shortage has been reported from all over Vasant Vihar and Vasant Kunj as well. Last month the situation in Vasant Kunj was so severe that some residents there went on a flash strike and dharna.
The Protest… While most of the sectors in Vasant Kunj were fine with the bore well water supply, some sectors like D6, Santushti Apartments were not. The residents visited the Sector B1 UGR of DJB to find the root cause of the water shortage and complained that they were not ready to get the untreated water of the bore well in their tanks. The non-committal behaviour of the DJB staff about the fault finding and rectification further agitated the residents and hence started the series of daily dharnas by the residents at the DJB office.
The conflict between the residents and DJB officials took a dirty turn when the residents discovered the illicit sales of DJB water to certain areas despite water shortage. Several DJB tankers were stopped from leaving the DJB premises as they were illegally selling the water which rightfully belonged to the residents. A chakka jam was then demonstrated on the main road of Vasant Kunj to protest the illegal practices of netas and DJB. Many residents of the adjoining sectors also joined in for the jam.
Finally, a major leakage area was detected which was declared the root cause of water shortage by DJB. Water supply returned to normal after fixing the leakage. The DJB was forced to speed up the rectification work as residents were getting impatient after many days of irregular supply.
Such collective effort by residents forces the authorities to investigate the matter and amps up the rectification process. Although political parties didn’t miss the chance to claim their roles in getting the work done quickly, but no power is bigger than the collective power of residents.
Kudos to the residents of Vasant Kunj for voicing their rights in the right way at the right time. Well Done.
