Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini blames Arvind Kejriwal for Delhi water crisis, says…

Delhi water crisis: The war of words between Delhi and Haryana continues, even as the residents are forced to scramble with their buckets for water.

Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday hit out at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal over the water crisis in the national capital. 

Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini.

“We are giving water to Delhi but the Delhi govt has not been able to streamline the water distribution system there. Due to mistakes made by Kejriwal, the people of Delhi are suffering,” Saini was quoted by ANI as saying.

Continuing his attack on the Aam Aadmi Party convenor, Saini said,"Kejriwal misled people and set them aside to focus on corruption. He went to jail due to corruption and his ministers including deputy CM were arrested."

The war of words between neighbours Delhi and Haryana continues, even as the residents are forced to scramble with their buckets towards tankers in this seeing heat. 

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party government has blamed Haryana for releasing less water to Delhi. On Wednesday, Delhi's water resources minister Atishi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention in the water crisis. She threatened to sit on an indefinite fast if the issue is not resolved by Friday. 

“We have tried all possible steps by requesting the Haryana government and petitioning the Supreme Court. We have sought intervention from Union jal shakti minister. On Tuesday, a high-level delegation of officers from Delhi met Haryana government officers but they refused to provide any water,” the Delhi minister told reporters. 

"Yesterday, Haryana released 513 MGD of water to Delhi as against 613 MGD. One MGD of water is for 28,500 people. This means that water was not released for over 28 lakh people," Atishi added.

AAP's INDIA bloc ally Congress said that Atishi should have written the letter to Modi earlier. “The Delhi government should have prepared a good plan involving availability of water and its distribution,” Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said. 

(With agency inputs)