Delhi water minister Atishi has been hospitalized after beginning a hunger strike five days ago to draw attention to the city’s water shortage crisis. She was admitted on Tuesday morning due to low blood sugar levels, dropping to 36, well below the normal range of 70-100mg/dL.
Delhi water minister Atishi, a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has accused neighbouring Haryana state of limiting water supply to Delhi, a claim denied by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana, which blames the AAP government for the crisis.
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According to AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj on X (formerly Twitter), Atishi has not consumed any food during her hunger strike and is currently receiving intensive care.
Delhi is enduring a severe heatwave this summer, with temperatures consistently exceeding 40C for weeks, intensifying demand for electricity and water and straining the city’s resources. As a result of dwindling water supplies, residents have had to rely on water brought in by tankers.
Delhi water minister has accused the Haryana government of withholding a significant portion of water from the Yamuna River, which serves Delhi and other northern states. In 1996, India’s Supreme Court mandated that Haryana provide a consistent water supply to Delhi due to its increasing demand for drinking water.
However, last week, Atishi urged the Haryana government to release additional water to Delhi based on humanitarian grounds. She alleged that Haryana had reduced its water supply to the capital by 100 million gallons per day over the past three weeks, affecting 2.8 million people.
In response, the Haryana government blamed Delhi for mismanagement and asserted that local authorities were accountable for the city’s water shortage.
