BIS conducted water quality check, Delhi water didn't meet its set standards: Paswan

After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan of "spreading lies" on the quality of Delhi water, the latter said that the test was conducted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) but Delhi water didn't meet its standards.

Kejriwal on Wednesday took to Twitter and accused Paswan of "lying" about collecting water samples from a few households. He then shared a video of a man who claimed that no water sample was collected from his house.

"Why did you lie about the water samples Paswan Ji? In your list, you mentioned that the water sample was collected from one Deepak Kumar's house but he says no sample was collected from his residence. It's not the water, it's your politics that is dirty," Kejriwal tweeted.

"It is very sad to see such misuse of power. By taking a sample of water from the house of your own party official, you have spread fear among the people of Delhi, Paswan Ji. Such an act does not suit a minister sitting in a constitutional post," Kejriwal tweeted

To these accusations, Paswan stated that the samples were not collected by him but the BIS itself.

"I haven't done quality check, it's country's reputed institution - Bureau of Indian Standards that has done it. It has set standards that Delhi water didn't meet," said Paswan.

"On one of the news channels, I saw that an MLA was sitting beside Deepak Kumar (about whom Kejriwal had tweeted earlier) while he was speaking regarding the water samples," he added.

Paswan further added that he had earlier written to Kejriwal to nominate a non-political person in place of Jal Board vice-chairman Dinesh Mohaniya as part of a joint team for the collection of water samples from the national capital.

"Kejriwal hasn't revealed the names of the members inducted in the 32 teams to collect the water samples. These members should be either technicians or non-political people," said Paswan.

"The state government should publicly announce that Delhi's water is 100 per cent pure if they say so. Then people would get a right to knock the doors of the court to challenge it, in case they are supplied with contaminated water," he added.