'Contaminated' Yamuna water: Delhi Speaker refers matter to Privileges Committee

The claim of contaminated water will be proved once again, he said.The Speaker, about a notice given by the BJP for a no-confidence motion against the AAP government, said he will check if the notice had been given as per the rules and take a decision on it after the Budget is presented in the House on March 21.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel Monday described as ''serious'' the issue of BJP MLAs bringing contaminated water to the House claiming it to be from the Yamuna river as he referred the matter to the Privileges Committee.

He said a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) report has refuted the claims made by the opposition legislators, stating that the water brought by them was not from the river.

Goel referred to two separate reports of the DJB and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which claimed that the water samples brought to the Assembly by BJP legislators during the last session on January 18 were not from the Yamuna.

However, Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that the samples submitted by the BJP MLAs were changed.

In the January session of the Delhi Assembly, BJP legislators had brought to the House bottles purportedly containing contaminated water from the Yamuna in an attempt to corner the AAP government over its water supply.

''The DJB report has found that the sample of water presented in the last session by BJP MLAs did not have Yamuna water,'' Goel said.

The bottles submitted by the BJP legislators contained some black substance, he said and termed the whole incident ''serious'' as it was ''aimed at creating panic among the people''.

The speaker referred the matter to the Privileges Committee of the Assembly and directed it to submit a report within a month.

As the BJP MLAs protested Goel's decision, he asked them to give their representation to the Privileges Committee.

Goel had on January 18 warned the BJP MLAs that he would ensure termination of their membership if the samples brought to the House contained any chemical or some other substance.

Bidhuri said the BJP MLAs had brought the dirty water of Yamuna to the assembly. A report of the Delhi government itself has claimed that Yamuna water turned 200 times dirtier during the AAP rule, he said.

''The dirty water given by the BJP MLAs has been replaced,'' the Leader of the Opposition said.

Bidhuri said the Assembly Speaker along with BJP MLAs and the media should go to the Yamuna and take water samples from there. ''The claim of contaminated water will be proved once again,'' he said.

The Speaker, about a notice given by the BJP for a no-confidence motion against the AAP government, said he will check if the notice had been given as per the rules and take a decision on it after the Budget is presented in the House on March 21.