Piped water supply in all unauthorised colonies in 2 years: Sisodia

Piped water supply to all unauthorised colonies will be ensured in a phased manner in the next two years, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday.

The government has set aside Rs 3,274 crore for the schemes and projects of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for the financial year 2021-22. Of this, Rs 600 crore is for 20 kilolitres free water subsidy scheme, which benefits about 6 lakh beneficiaries every month.

There are 1,799 unauthorised colonies in the national capital.

Of these, 1,622 now come under DJB's piped water supply network, Sisodia said.

"Water supply to all unauthorised colonies will be ensured in a phased manner in the next two years except 113 colonies which have not yet received a no objection certificate from the Archaeological Survey of India or those that fall in the forest area," he said.

Presenting the budget, the deputy chief minister said 93 per cent of the families in the national capital now have access to piped water supply.

The Interceptor Sewer Project (ISP) is also around 99 per cent completed, he said.

The ISP will trap sewage water from 108 sub-drains of three major drains Najafgarh, Shahdara and Supplementary, which would then be sent to the nearest sewage treatment plant for treatment, before being discharged into drains. This would help to bring down pollution levels in the river.

"With the help of STPs and ISP, the Yamuna can now be cleaned completely within the next three years," he said.

He said the DJB has installed rainwater harvesting system in 585 of its 771 installations and the rest will be covered before the monsoon season this year.