The BJP on Sunday hit out against the AAP government and blamed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government for its inability to find a workable solution to traders problems.
Meanwhile, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday criticised the BJP government for instigating clashes between the local scrap traders and police personnel in Delhi Mayapuri area on Saturday.
"Since pollution control is the sole responsibility of Kejriwal government. He must rise from his slumber and take immediate action to provide relief to the traders with a solution acceptable to both traders and National Green Tribunal(NGT)," BJP MLA Vijender Gupta said.
Gupta alleged that despite the NGT court's instructions to the government to relocate the scrap industry in Mayapuri in 2015 CM Kejriwal kept on "sleeping" over the matter. "He allowed the matter to precipitate on the occasion of Baisakhi and Ambedkar Jayanti. The short fuse which Mayapuri traders and authorities had to suffer was totally avoidable," he said.
BJP leader and MP for West Delhi, Parvesh Verma, alleged that Kejriwal was lying on the topic of sealing drive while accusing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers of instigating the violent clashes with police in Mayapuri.
"I challenge Arvind Kejriwal who is the chief minister of Delhi to prove that there is any hand of the BJP either through Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) or centre in the sealing drive being carried out. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) which comes under the Delhi government and the Environment Ministry had given the orders for this action," Verma said.
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said: "BJP is responsible for the barbaric repression let loose on the traders. They have adopted an enemy-like approach towards the capital state during the last five years and traders have been the worst victims of their wrath," said Sisodia in a press conference here.
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His comments come a day after videos from the incident showed protesters clashing with security forces, pelting stones at them and then being chased down by them in the Mayapuri area after officials of Delhi Municipal Corporation began to seal some illegal factories in the area following a 2015 order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) to shut down 850 polluting factories in the area.
Sisodia also hit out at the Modi-led BJP government for deploying security forces to "terrorise" the local traders. "They first ordered Delhi Police to beat up the poor traders by brandishing sticks at them, and when it did not work, paramilitary forces were called to terrorise them by throwing brick and stones on them," he added.
Deputy chief minister also alleged that despite the NGT's order of 2015 to relocate the industries, they were not allocated the lands someplace else. "Was the Union Urban Development Ministry sleeping since 2015 NGT order," he asked.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Saturday posted on his official Twitter handle that had the Nation Capital been given full statehood, his party would have stopped the sealing of factories in 24 hours.
According to police, 14 persons, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and three other police personnel were injured in the clashes.
The sealing drive was started by SDM Delhi Cantonment along with the staff of MCD and Delhi Pollution Control Committe in Mayapuri scrap market in pursuance of NGT orders.