The newly-elected AAP government is in the process of taking up the issue of no supply of the Delhi Jal Board’s drinking water to the Red Fort since January last year. The officials responsible for the upkeep of the historic fort, frequented by about 7,000 visitors every day, have expressed serious reservations over a bill of `1.97 crore from the Jal Board for the supply of drinking water. Sources said that the AAP government, which is very keen to revive the tourism sector in the city, would soon take up the issue of non-supply of drinking water with the top DJB officials. A senior bureaucrat said: “We do not want to earn a bad name in the tourism sector. The matter will soon be taken on a priority with the DJB officials.” The Red Fort, which has a staff of about 1,000 from the Archaeological Survey of India, the Central Industrial Security Force and an ASI institute, has been facing severe drinking water crisis for over a year. While the government staff working inside the fort banks heavily on bottled water, there are reportedly no arrangements of drinking water for thousands of visitors, including 300-odd foreigners, who visit the place every day. The Red Fort has a daily requirement of about 14,000 litres of drinking water. The Fort administration reportedly made all the payments to the DJB way back in September 2013. “But due to paucity of funds, payment for water bills could not be made to the DJB for two months, following which we started getting less water,” a senior ASI official told this newspaper. “But the DJB completely stopped the water supply in January 2014.” After the matter was reportedly brought to the notice of the DJB, the board officials are said to have informed the Red Fort administration two months later that they had been making regular supply of water to the Fort. Again, when the Fort staff raised the matter with the DJB, they were told that there was a problem in the water pipelines. When the Fort administration requested that the pipelines be changed immediately, the board officials reportedly did not take any action. It was only when the administration began preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence speech, that the DJB swung into action. They asked the fort administration to make immediate payment for the new pipelines. The Fort officials are said to have made a payment of `15 lakh for the same to the DJB. “We have made the payment for the new pipelines, but nothing has been done so far,” an ASI official said. “To our surprise, the DJB sent us a bill of `1.97 crore in January this year. They have charged us `95.95 lakh for supply of drinking water and rest of the amount as surcharge fee.