Delhi Jal Board CEO refutes Arvind Kejriwal’s claims, calls “poisoned water” remark “factually incorrect”

New Delhi [India], January 27 (ANI): Delhi Jal Board Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shilpa Shinde on Monday wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary, stating that the statements made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal were “factually incorrect.”

“These statements are factually incorrect, without any basis and misleading,” the letter read.

In the letter, Shinde underlined that such “false” statements lead to fear-mongering among city residents and negatively impact relations with the upper riparian state of Haryana. She urged the Chief Secretary to bring the matter to the attention of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena under the Transaction of Business Rules.

“The matter is being brought to your attention, given the fact that such false statements lead to fear-mongering amongst city residents and also adversely impact relations with the upper riparian state of Haryana. Given that this matter is likely to affect inter-state relations, these facts may be brought to the attention of Lieutenant Governor in terms of the Transaction of Business Rules,” the letter read.

Ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections next week, Kejriwal earlier in the day alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Haryana government had “poisoned” the Yamuna water supplied to Delhi, claiming that it could have led to mass casualties.

“BJP’s Haryana government has poisoned the water in Yamuna,” Kejriwal said in a press conference while claiming that the alertness of Delhi Jal board prevented the mixing of alleged poisoned water with drinking water.

“If this water would have entered Delhi only to be mixed with the drinking water, many people would have died in Delhi. It would have caused mass genocide,” the former Delhi chief minister alleged.

Kejriwal further stated that the water treatment plants in Delhi were not equipped to handle such polluted water, adding,”It has caused water scarcity in one-third of Delhi.”

Reacting to these allegations, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday dismissed Kejriwal’s claims. He refuted the assertions of water scarcity and said the issue lay in the distribution system, which Kejriwal had failed to manage during his 10 years in office.

Saini also slammed Kejriwal for making baseless allegations and then evading accountability. “It is his (Arvind Kejriwal) nature and thinking to allege and then run away. There’s a saying, ‘thooko aur bhago (spit and run)’. This is what Kejriwal does. I said that you send your chief secretary and I will ask my chief secretary to check the quality of water at Sonipat from where it (Yamuna) is entering Delhi,” Saini said.