New Delhi, Admitting her Government's failure in cleaning the Yamuna river and resolving problems in water distribution network in the city, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said she is determined to overcome the challenges on both fronts.

"We are determined to overcome the challenges. We will clean the Yamuna river and improve the water distribution network in the city," Dikshit said participating in a discussion on water crisis and pollution in the Yamuna river.

Reacting to criticism by BJP legislators on the water shortage in the city, Dikshit said the party was"playing politics" with the issue. She said her government was doing everything possible to improve the situation and highlighted the fact that the national capital has to rely heavily on Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for water supply.

Dikshit also pointed out that nearly five lakh people come to Delhi every year and the demand for the precious commodity has been increasing day-by-day. On leakages in the water distribution network, the Chief Minister said Government was procuring modern equipment to detect leakages so that they could be plugged properly.

"We will completely remove all the problems in our water distribution very soon,"she said adding that when Congress took over from BJP in 1998, the total availability of drinking water was only 570 MGD which now has increased to 825 MGD.

Dikshit said although Supreme Court had given a ruling that Haryana should release 80 MGD water, the state has not not done so.She said the government has been encouraging water harvesting by giving incentives.

Dikshit asked BJP-dominated MCD to take up water harvesting seriously. On cleaning of the Yamuna, Dikshit said within a couple of years, the river would be freed from pollution as Government was determined to clean it.

She said the NDA Government had alloted land on the Yamuna river bed for construction of Akshardham temple as well as Commonwealth Games. Giving account of the government's initiative to protect the environment, Dikshit said 148 water bodies have been restored in the capital.

Earlier, initiating the short duration discussion, BJP's Sahab Singh Chauhan slammed the government for its failure to provide basic amenities to the citizens."The situation is very serious. People are dying because of water crisis. But the Government is unmoved," he said.

Criticising Dikshit's statement that there has been no water shortage in the city and that there is a problem in distribution and management, Chauhan said the Chief Minister should issue order to file"cases of criminal negligence against officials who are responsible for the mismanagement". Many BJP MLAs including senior leader Harsh Vardhan also attacked the Government on the water crisis.