AAP asks Centre to approve Yamuna rain water storage project to avoid water crisis

AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Wednesday urged the central government to approve a rain water harvesting project near Yamuna proposed by the Delhi Government, cautioning that the national capital could face a water crisis in 2020. Initiating a short duration debate on water crisis in the country in Rajya Sabha, Singh said, We want to store rain water near the Yamuna. But we cannot do that without central government approval. We have proposed rainwater storage project. but we need central government support otherwise there would be big water crisis in Delhi in 2020, he said. He informed the House that the AAP government in Delhi increased drinking water availability to 88 per cent from 55 per cent four-and-a-half years ago. Still 12 per cent people dont get drinking water in Delhi. Therefore rain water storage project is required. Delhi used to get 990 MGD (million gallon per day) water in 1996-97 and after 23 years the sanctioned water is 900MGD. BJP member Satyanarayan Jatiya said delay in Monsoon has further aggravated the water crisis in the country. Amee Yajnik (Congress) asked the Government to come up with a definite plan to recycle polluted water, recharge ground water and also rain harvesting to deal with the water crisis. She said that water shortage is going to be the issue of the century. AIADMK member R Vaithilingam also participated in the debate and highlighted the problems faced by Tamil Naidu related to water crisis.