Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed a study in which water samples from the city failed quality tests was “false and politically motivated”, PTI reported. The study, conducted by the Bureau of Indian Standards, found that Delhi had the most unsafe water among 21 major Indian cities.

Kejriwal said the city’s water quality cannot be judged on the basis of just 11 samples, ANI reported. Kejriwal claimed Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who released the report on Saturday, had not disclosed where the samples were taken from for testing.

“It’s dirty politics, people are scared by the way Central ministers are saying Delhi water is poisonous,” Kejriwal alleged at a press conference in Delhi. “I will take five samples from each ward of Delhi, get it checked and then put the data in public.”

Kejriwal claimed only 1.5% of the 1.55 lakh water samples picked up by the Delhi Jal Board between January and September this year had failed quality tests.

The report released by Paswan on Saturday had noted that water samples from Delhi failed in 19 out of 28 parameters. In 13 state capitals – Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Jammu, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chennai and Kolkata – all tested samples failed to meet the BIS norms for piped drinking water.

Mumbai was the only city where all 10 samples collected had complied with the standards.

Union minister asks Kejriwal to constitute team to test water

Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan challenged Kejriwal to name officials for a team comprising city and central officials to test Delhi’s water. Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour, Paswan said the water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board was not fit for consumption.

“I challenge you [Kejriwal] that you name your officials for a team which will also have top BIS officials,” the minister said. “Let them go to any area, pick samples and get them tested from any lab. I challenge Kejriwal to name his officials by today evening, or tomorrow or day after...”

“You cannot drink tap water directly,” he added. “At many places water comes in all sorts of colours – yellow, blue.”

Paswan said the rich and middle class families used water purifiers and bottled water, whereas the poor suffered. He said the chief minister was the one indulging in politics.

Other BJP MPs from Delhi, including Meenakshi Lekhi and Hans Raj Hans, also raised the matter and attacked the Aam Aadmi Party.

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