In this special report, India Today anchor Sonal Mehrotra Kapoor and reporter Shreya Chatterjee investigate the severe water contamination crisis in Delhi. Shreya Chatterjee reports from the ground, highlighting that '92 samples were actually found to be contaminated' between October and December, contradicting official claims. The broadcast features residents like Vikas Nagpal from Mayur Vihar and Namdhari Colony, who express their frustration over the dirty water supply and the lack of urgency from the Delhi Jal Board. The report emphasizes the disconnect between the authorities' denial and the evidence collected on the ground.
00:00She joins us now. Shreya has been bringing all those absolutely brilliant reports from yesterday, which was part one, to today, which is in Mayur Vihar.
00:09Shreya, also, you know, with us today are some residents you would like to know from Mayur Vihar.
00:16Residents Vikas Nakpal actually wrote to us on Twitter and said that he saw the report yesterday and wanted to talk about the situation in his colony today.
00:26Even before I could get that message across to you, you were already in Mayur Vihar.
00:30So clearly all everybody has an issue with the area. I'm going to come to the residents in just a bit.
00:36But I want to get a sense from Shreya first. Shreya, when you're going from colony to colony, the constant thing that I'm hearing from everyone is that this is an issue that has existed only in the past couple of months.
00:49It's number one. Second, they have complained about it, but nobody's listening.
00:55And third, the absolute denial by authorities who are saying, haan ji kardenge, or they're saying, no, no, everything is fine.
01:02When clearly even the documentation that you found says otherwise.
01:05So there is no way left where anything, you know, to say that the water is not dirty.
01:13Documents, witness on ground, and also what you're seeing is evidence, you know, with their own eyes and smelling with their own nose.
01:22Everything points towards dirty water, but nobody's listening.
01:25Absolutely. You know, Sonor, what is really scary is the fact that there's no urgency with which this matter is being looked at.
01:33Now, remember the first report we showed, they said that for two months they're suffering with the issue.
01:38Namdhari colony, they say for 10 months they're suffering with the issue.
01:41Mayur Vihar, they also say it's a month-long matter right now.
01:44So the fact is that they know this. It's recorded.
01:47We got that document, which is the tender document of the Delhi Jalboard in the Namdhari colony, where the acknowledgement is there that, yes, water is contaminated and there's an urgency to repair the pipeline.
02:00Yet we are being told it'll take till March for the repairment to take place.
02:04This is one paper that we've accessed, and multiple more online documents on the Delhi Jalboard website show that between the month of October till the month of December alone,
02:1392 samples were actually found to be contaminated.
02:17So what was the result after that?
02:19Why do we not see the corrective measures being taken?
02:23And remember that bite we showed, Sonor, the NDMC vice chairperson, he's saying that we are sampling it and we don't get a negative report.
02:30Yet their own data is saying something else.
02:32So clearly the apparatus in the national capital, despite one party at the helm of affairs, is still not being able to work together.
02:40That is a bigger challenge that the people are right now facing.
02:43And Shreya, we yesterday spoke about it, that you did a very nice thing of collecting the water actually, everywhere you go.
02:51And you've now sort of put labels on it, right?
02:55How big is your basket right now?
02:57Because after you put that out yesterday, I got so many messages.
03:01And everybody is saying this is a brilliant idea.
03:03We must put together an area-wise basket of water.
03:07Please show us where all you've visited so far and what is the water looking like?
03:11There are two bottles already collected.
03:12We have one which is from the first location in Vikaspuri Assembly Constituency.
03:18This is Niloti Colony.
03:20The second one is from the Namdhari Colony, which falls under the Motinagar Assembly Constituency.
03:26And then we have the other one, which is from the Mayur-Bihar area.
03:29So we are collecting these water bottles.
03:32Wherever more we go, we will.
03:33And yes, Sonal, this is the idea that we put together, that we will probably be sending the samples so that there's some acknowledgement.
03:39Because denial is something that we will not sit with this time.
03:42We have evidence on the ground.
03:43We have documents there.
03:44People in the national capital can't be left suffering with contaminated water.
03:48Because water is a basic right.
03:50This is the basic that we can expect our government to fix at an urgency.
03:54And let me add to it now.
03:57It's a great initiative.
03:58Let's keep adding water to this basket.
04:00And if any of the viewers right now watching on whatever platform, you think your water is worse than that or just like that, send us your bottle.
04:08Give us your name.
04:09Send it to the MediaPlex.
04:10Let's collect these waters and let's see what's actually happening in this case.
04:15And we'll take that basket, like promised, to the authorities and figure out what is to be done over there.
04:20Shreya, we'll see you again back with more reports on this one.
Be the first to comment