NEW DELHI, August 5: ``Only four, five deaths have been verified,'' were the opening remarks of Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma on the children who died in Kakrola. Mid-way through his defensive speech about how the water problem in Delhi had improved, a note was slipped in front of him.He read it, cleared his throat and said that seven deaths had been confirmed by the interim report. And then, without a pause he went back to defending the Jal Board and saying how enraged he was with the reports that claimed their tankers had caused the death of the children in Kakrola.
``It was not Delhi Jal Board tankers,'' he repeated a dozen times. ``The employees of Jal Board are hurt by these allegations.'' The fact that eight children had died seemed to be a secondary issue. What he and Jal Board members were keen on establishing was that the tankers did not belong to them.
``I spoke to the DDA vice-chairman and he clarified that DDA supplies water in the area,'' announces the CM, adding that Jal Board had received a request for tankers from the DDA last evening. Subsequently, two tankers were apparently sent to the area.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
