Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday urged the Centre to provide 1,300 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Delhi, saying it will help ensure round-the-clock water supply to the people in the city.  The Delhi government is trying to increase water availability in the city, he said after inaugurating an 11 million litres capacity underground water reservoir in Patparganj village.

"Delhi received 800-850 MGD water around 1997-98 when its population was around 80 lakh. It is still getting the same amount of water though the population has now tripled to 2.5 crore. With a slight nudge from the Centre, water can be made available from neighbouring states," the chief minister said while inaugurating the Patparganj reservoir. The Patparganj village underground water reservoir, constructed at Rs 32 crore, will benefit nearly one lakh residents of Patparganj village, Pandav Nagar, Shashi Garden, Mayur Vihar societies and Chilla village among others.

 "We will supply round-the-clock water to each household in Delhi if the city is provided 1,300 MGD water by the Centre," he added. The chief minister also assured residents of Delhi that their water bills would be rectified in case of any anomaly and suggested they hold paying the charges till the correct ones were available as Delhi Jal Board (DJB) would come up with a plan for it.  Delhi can be provided water from the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, Kejriwal said, adding that his government would work for this.

Besides water from the Yamuna, Ganga and the neighbouring states, Delhi is also working to boost availability through local sources, he added. In the last seven years, the availability of water in Delhi has increased from 861 MGD to 990 MGD through water treatment plants, tube wells and rainy wells, the chief minister said.

Twelve reservoirs and three treatment plants were constructed by the Delhi government in the last seven years, he said. Kejriwal said the city's water requirement was fixed at 800-850 MGD by the Centre, Supreme Court and other agencies around 1997-98 when the city's population was 80 lakh.   Now the population has increased to 2.5 crore but the supply of water to Delhi from the Ganga and Yamuna was not raised, he said emphasising more water for Delhi to meet the needs of people.

Since 2015 when AAP came to power in Delhi, 12 underground water reservoirs, three water treatment plants, one water recycling plant, 500 tubewells and a 2,250 km long water pipeline network that have benefitted 30 lakh people have come up, he said. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who is also chairman of DJB said that Kejriwal, despite facing obstacles like delay in fund release, was working to ensure adequate water supply to the people of Delhi.

The Patparganj village underground water reservoir will be supplied water from Sonia Vihar through a 4 Km long pipeline. Water from the reservoir to different localities will be supplied by a network of 12.90-km pipelines and six pumps, officials said.