New Delhi: The first session of the new Delhi assembly begins today. The seven-day session is likely to test the sustainability of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government which has to prove it has the numbers to continue to govern Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party is riding high on the populist schemes with Kejriwal announcing 700 litres of free water to all Delhiites. This was followed by an announcement to slash electricity bills by 50 per cent.
While the chief minister can claim he has fulfilled his promise, not many in the capital are still not happy. Some of the residents claim the free water scheme will not help them as they don't have water pipelines to their homes. Others have questioned the provisions in store for the government to verify the amount of water used.
"We will not be benefitted by this scheme. We do not have any pipelines connected to our homes," said Munni Devi, who Munni Devi, a resident of Gokalpuri, who has been using bore-well for all her daily needs.
Over 30 per cent of Delhi's 22 million population live in unauthorised colonies and don't have official water connections. Of the 2.5 million households only 1.7 million have piped water.
Many others like Amit, who have access to piped water, are not sure how they will avail the scheme. In many colonies like his, different floors on each plot have been let out to different families who between them share one connection. "How will they understand who has used 700 litres of water and who has used more than that," asked Amit.
But some like Kritika who are extremely happy with the scheme. "We use less than 500 litres of water.So we will be extremely happy if we do not receive anymore bills," said Krithika.
Experts, however, feel the party has gone too far with its promise. " 140 litres per person is way above what normal people use. A resource like water shud never be given free or else people wll tend to waste it," said Manoj Misra, water expert, Yamuna Jiye Andolan.
According to the Delhi Economic Survey most of the supply lines in Delhi are 40-50 years old and prone to leakages. Now the big challenge in front of the government is to implement this scheme properly despite these bottlenecks.
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