Kejriwal proposes SPV to address sanitation issues in Delhi

Claiming that multiplicity of agencies in the national capital was hindering execution of sanitation-related works, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today proposed having a 'special purpose vehicle' (SPV) framework, on the lines of Delhi Metro, to address the pressing issue.
"Cleaning a city like Delhi is not rocket science, but issues occur when jurisdictions overlap and due to multiplicity of agencies. So, a municipal area may overlap with the one administered by the PWD and vice versa, and that stalls the actual work," Kejriwal said.
He was speaking at the launch of 'Swachch Delhi Abhiyan' here in the presence of Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. The drive would be held from November 22-30.

"Our priority is cleaning our city and cleaning Yamuna also, but problem is some parts of it belong to MCD, some to PWD and some to floods department, and that is where the work gets retarded.
"And, therefore, if on the lines of DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation), we could have a 'special purpose vehicle' to bring all agencies in harmony, the work will pick up pace," he added.
DMRC, a state-owned company with equal equity participation from the Centre and the government of Delhi, built and operates the Delhi Metro. It is now ranked as one of the most-efficient and clean mode of transportation, not just in India, but world over.

"But, as long as we don't coordinate and execute our work, Yamuna cannot be cleaned in even 100 years," Kejriwal claimed.

The Delhi Chief Minister said, "We may squabble over jurisdiction, but people see a lying garbage as failure of entire administration. And, therefore we should forget our political divisions and work for a better and cleaner Delhi together. We should not criticise but cooperate with each other."
"I can assure you during this drive if there is any dispute over jurisdiction for picking up waste, we will take care of that," he added.
The AAP government had on November 16 also launched a 'Swachch Delhi' app that allows people to upload pictures of garbage and debris dumps through it and send them to a central control room, which is then forwarded to agencies concerned.

Kejriwal claimed the Prime Minister was still not able to
get over the "pain" of losing the Delhi Assembly elections.
Delhi Assembly today passed a motion moved by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia against CBI raid at Delhi Secretariat, condeming the Centre for its alleged high handedness and adding it was in "violation of the federal structure"and the "spirit of the Constitution".
"We are constantly seeking PM's cooperation and for this, I have met two-three times and told him we don't need money, and instead, we want him not to put hurdles to our works..Give us Delhi for a year and will fulfil your dreams," Kejriwal said.

The Delhi Chief Minister termed the CBI raid at his office as "dangerous" for the country's federal structure.
Kejriwal claimed it was within the government's powers to set up a Commission of Inquiry to probe alleged corruption in the state's cricket body.
"We have the right to probe the irrregularities in sports, player slection, stadium construction. Everyone is admitting that there was a scam...We have power to set up such Commission.
"In the past, we set up a Commission of Inquiry over the transport scam involving former CM and her officials, but MHA later declared it null and void as LG was getting implicated in it. MHA has no power to declare our Commission of Inquiry null and void," he said.

Refering to Jaitley's lawsuit, Kejriwal said he was surprised as to how a lawyer (Jaitley) could hurt himself because the Union Minister will be crossed examine by our lawyers for almost one year.
"Next pre-summoning evidence on January 5. We want the court to summon us. We will go and trial will begin. His (Jaitley) cross examinitauion will strtech for a year. By filing defamation case, he has hurt himself," Kejriwal added.
Noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani will represent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the civil and criminal defamation suits filed against him by Jaitley.
Jaitley had yesterday filed both civil and criminal defamation cases against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for allegedly defaming him and sought Rs 10 crores in damages and their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of upto two years in jail.