New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Atishi claimed on Tuesday that the water in Yamuna continues to have ammonia levels six times above normal, terming it ‘no longer treatable’, according to NDTV.
The AAP government earlier accused Haryana of mixing poison in the Yamuna River supplying water to the national capital, calling it ‘water terrorism’.
Seeking the Election Commission's intervention, she said: ‘Ammonia levels continue to be 6 times above normal in Yamuna waters, at the point it is entering Delhi from Haryana. Such levels are extremely toxic for the human body. This water cannot be treated and supplied to the people of Delhi. Otherwise, their lives will be at risk.’
Alongside denying the AAP government’s charges, Haryana threatened it with a defamation case.
Atishi said in her letter that ammonia levels in the water are 700% above the treatable limit while Delhi Jal Board’s water treatment plants can handle ammonia up to 1 ppm level.
The situation led to curtailing the city’s water supply by 15-20%, she claimed while warning that high levels of ammonia in drinking water could cause kidney damage.
‘This is not an act of negligence; it is an act of water terrorism to deliberately impact the conduct of free and fair elections in Delhi,’ she wrote.
The Chief Minister accused the BJP of taking a ‘drastic step’ over fear of losing the elections, adding that ‘In Hinduism, there is no bigger sin than stopping water.’
She asserted that ‘The people of Delhi will answer the BJP for this sin on February 5.’
Meanwhile, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of ‘dirty politics’ adding that the party wanted to keep people of Delhi thirsty.
‘The poison that is being mixed in water and sent cannot even be cleaned in the water treatment plant. For the safety of the people of Delhi, water supply has to be stopped in many areas,’ Kejriwal was quoted as saying.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini threatened to sue Kejriwal while saying that ‘For these blatantly false and disgusting statements, Kejriwal should immediately apologise to the people of Haryana and Delhi for this statement, otherwise, we will file a defamation suit against him.’