Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal: Government's priority is to provide clean water to people

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he was not interested in politics over the water issue, days after a Bureau of Indian Standards report stated that the city's water failed quality test.

Talking to reporters here, the chief minister said that his government's priority is to provide clean water to the people of Delhi. "I don't want to do politics over the water issue. They (BJP and the Centre) have nothing to do with the city's water, and they are just doing dirty politics. I want to request through you (media) that if there is any complaint about dirty water being supplied anywhere, the Delhi government will address it," he said.

The Centre and the city government have been trading allegations since Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan released the BIS report on November 16 that said water samples collected from 11 places in the city failed quality tests. Kejriwal said around 2,300 points were facing water quality-related issues when the AAP government took over in 2015 but now this number has come down to 125.

"If there is any colony where dirty water is being supplied, we will definitely address it," he said. Citing media reports that suggested irregularities in the process of water sample collection in Delhi, Kejriwal had on Wednesday accused Paswan of "spreading lies and misleading people on the issue."

On Thursday, the Delhi Jal Board alleged that Paswan acted "irresponsibly" and "tabled a fake report" in Parliament about the national capital's water quality even as the Aam Aadmi Party demanded the Union ministers' resignation.