Paswan asks Kejriwal to nominate non-political person for water quality testing exercise

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Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday has urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind 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.

The Delhi government has nominated two members - Jal Board Vice Chairman Dinesh Mohaniya and Shaalab Kumar - for water quality testing exercise.

Condemning the nomination of Mohaniya, Paswan tweeted, "The CM Delhi has nominated two persons including Vice Chairman, DJB as members of the joint team for the collection of water samples from Delhi. I have written to him that since Vice Chairman is a political person, he may nominate a non-political person in his place."

"As per my knowledge, Dinesh Mohaniya is an MLA from Sangam Vihar. This matter is related to the common people so I do not want any kind of politics in this. I request you to nominate the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DJB or any senior officer of DJB in place of a political person," Paswan wrote in the letter.

Paswan has also written a letter to the Delhi government, saying that since vice-chairman is a political person, a non-political person may be nominated in his place for collection of water samples.

"You have formed 32 teams to test the water samples. To ensure that the work should be carried out properly, we will send you the names of 32 officers of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). But we request you to send us the information of the officers included in the 32 teams formed by you. I would again request you that these people should not belong to any political background," he added.

Earlier today Paswan said that he will hold a press conference on December 31 with the Water Board, Delhi Government, where he can publicly announce the result of water samples.

"I don't know anything about water quality, it is the responsibility of BIS. Everyone knows Delhi water is not good enough to drink. If someone is challenging water quality report then that means he is challenging BIS and not me," said Paswan.

Paswan has urged the Chief Minister that this process should not take much time and the water samples collected by these teams should be sent to some authorized agency for the testing process. The report of the tested samples should be publicly announced by December 31, 2019.