After 7-day disruption, DJB says Vasant Kunj will get water today

NEW DELHI: A damaged section of the water supply line in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj that led to disruptions in distribution in the area over the past week has been repaired, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday, adding that regular service is expected to resume from Thursday morning.

With the civic elections scheduled for December 4, the disruption in water supply also became a flashpoint for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AAP accused the BJP of “damaging” the pipeline, an allegation the saffron party dismissed as being “cooked-up”.

Vasant Kunj is supplied water through a three-million-gallon

reservoir near Sector B, Pocket 1, which is fed by the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant.

The reservoir feeds nine smaller underground reservoirs in the south Delhi neighbourhood.

A DJB official said sectors D6, C6, C8 and C9 are at the tail-end of the distribution system.

Rajesh Panwar, the chairman of the federation of residents welfare associations (RWA), said the fault was detected near C6.

Vinod Pant, adviser to the federation of Vasant Kunj RWAS, said the problem has been resolved and the water supply is expected to resume on Thursday morning.

“RWAS have received messages from the agency saying the local underground reservoirs are getting filled and the problem has been resolved,” Pant said.

To be sure, Vasant Kunj has had a history of water trouble for several decades. This problem was resolved in recent years — barring shortages in summer — after the area was connected to the Sonia Vihar plant in east Delhi.

A senior DJB official said a large number of new colonies and blocks have come up in the Vasant Kunj area over the last two decades, increasing the load on the limited water supply.

“A combination of the tail-end factor, topographic elevation of some areas on the Aravallis and the illegal use of booster pumps in the region ensures that Vasant Kunj takes some time to recover from any supply shortage,” the official said.

Meanwhile, AAP spokesperson and DJB vice-chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged the pipeline was damaged by the BJP. “It was a big conspiracy before the civic elections to create an atmosphere against AAP,” Bharadwaj said. The BJP hit back.

“Bhardwaj has levelled cooked-up allegation against the BJP after our MP, Ramesh Bidhuri, raised the issue of a water crisis in Vasant Vihar and Mahipalpur,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.

VASANT KUNJ HAS HAD A HISTORY OF WATER TROUBLE FOR DECADES. THIS WAS RESOLVED IN RECENT YEARS, BARRING SUMMER SHORTAGES