New Delhi, Nov 22 (TIWN) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he is not interested in doing politics over the water issue, and his objective is to provide clean water to citizens, as he announced the Delhi Jal Board's decision to waive off the development charges and infrastructure charges for water and sewer connections.

Kejriwal, who also heads the DJB, said that earlier people were paying Rs 1,14,110 for a 200-metre plot and Rs 1,24,110 for a 300-metre plot for a new water or sewer connection, but now they will only have to pay Rs 2,310.  "Delhi government has decided today that for the new connection of water and sewer, people will have to pay only Rs 2,310. Earlier, thousands and lakhs of rupees had to be paid for a new connection. I believe that now people will start taking authorised connections. This step in itself will prove to be a big improvement in the water sector," Kejriwal said.  His announcement came as the Delhi Jal Board is facing heat from the opposition, after the Central government, on November 16, released a study on quality of piped drinking water being supplied in 21 cities, including Delhi, with the tap water here termed "undrinkable".  In its reaction, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party had said BJP-led Central government is "stooping too low by doing politics on water quality after they failed miserably in controlling air pollution in entire northern India".  In the same vein, Kejriwal on Friday said his objective is to provide clean water to citizens of Delhi and not indulge in "dirty politics" over water. 

"Those doing politics over water do not care about the quality of water in reality. When we took over, there were piped water lines only in 58 per cent of Delhi, now that number has gone up to 93 per cent. There were more than 2,300 areas with the supply of dirty water when we formed the government. We reduced the number to just 125," he told the media here.  Kejriwal also said the Delhi government''s decision to waive off the infrastructure and development charges for the installation of individual water and sewer connections will reduce the quantity of non-revenue water in Delhi.