Corona Chaos To Worsen Water Crisis

Covid-stretched Delhi govt struggles to roll out summer action plan as water shortfall reaches an alarming level

- Rohit Mishra and Ajay Kumar

Delhi’s all 11 districts comprising as many as 78 containment areas have been put in ‘Red Zone’ to combat the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

Thousands of people, suspected to have contracted coronavirus, are in quarantine.

While these are ‘all hands on deck’ times for the AAP government, it suddenly finds itself scrambling to address a parallel challenge: spiralling drinking water shortages.

Lakhs of residents in the city, under a lockdown since March 25, have been left high and dry this summer. Many areas, especially in South Delhi, are reeling under an acute water crisis as the demand-supply gap has already spiralled to more than 200 MGD (million gallons a day).

According to officials, many projects including those planned to connect areas with piped networks have been stalled as the focus has shifted to saving lives in the pandemic.

During the lockdown, the frequency of water supply by tankers has drastically gone down, many residents said and added that they stand in queues for two to three hours due to barricading in different locations.

NO SOCIAL DISTANCING?

The scramble for water that means poor social distancing has raised coronavirus alarm in Delhi.