NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the Delhi Jal Board plans. Hit by fund crunches and limited labour support, many of the board’s projects have taken a back seat.According to sources, the state government had diverted the funds for various departments, including that of the Jal Board’s to counter the Covid menace.

“The funds were not given until July and that has affected plans to a certain extent. The payments of many ongoing projects have been delayed as even the government does not have sufficient funds. Many of the projects are affected because there is no MLA LAD fund,” said a Jal Board official.

Another factor, as per sources that have hit the completion of the ongoing projects is lack of labourers. “The contractors who are working on the projects don’t have workers. Mostly because of these two constraints, many of the projects are halted, including those which were ongoing and other ones in the pipeline as well,” said the official.

However, sources claimed that now, the financing issue is being resolved and that funds are being allocated for certain projects.“The works which were related to the rejuvenation of water bodies have not been stopped. All the water body rejuvenation projects are directly linked to water sustainability. If the projects are delayed then schemes such as 24*7 water supply and groundwater recharge schemes will be delayed. So these water bodies are on our priority list. Projects like ‘Palla’ which is on floodwater of Yamuna is ongoing and the response is good this year,” stated another official.

Currently, the DJB is working on rejuvenation of five lakes, while three projects have been cleared by the administration, five more are on estimation stage and involve larger water bodies.