Delhi’s hunger-striking water minister hospitalised

Delhi’s water minister Atishi was hospitalized, five days after she began a hunger strike to raise awareness about the city’s water crisis.

The Indian capital is suffering from severe water shortages as a prolonged heatwave has pushed up consumption.

Ms Atishi was admitted to hospital on Tuesday morning after her sugar level dropped to 36 – well below the normal range of 70-100 mg/dl.

The leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), known by only one name, accused the neighboring state of Haryana of restricting the city’s water supply.

But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules in Haryana, denied these allegations and blamed the AAP government for the water crisis.

“She has not eaten anything for the last five days,” AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj wrote on X (formerly Twitter), adding that she was being treated in intensive care.

Delhi is experiencing one of the hottest summers this year, with temperatures above 40 °C for weeks.

This has led to a sharp increase in demand for electricity and water and is placing a heavy strain on the city’s resources.

As water supplies are running low, people are dependent on water deliveries from tankers.

Ms Atishi accused the Haryana government of withholding a large portion of the water from the Yamuna river, which flows through the capital.

Delhi and other northern states, including Haryana, depend on the river for their water needs.

In 1996, India’s Supreme Court ordered Haryana to provide some of its water to the city of Delhi throughout the year due to increasing drinking water demand.

But last week, Ms Atishi urged the Haryana government to provide additional water to the city on “humanitarian grounds”.

The minister also claimed that Haryana has reduced water supply to the capital by 100 million gallons per day in the past three weeks, leaving 2.8 million people without access to water.

The Haryana government, in turn, accused Delhi of mismanagement and blamed the authorities for the city’s water crisis.

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