 "Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: PTI")
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung is creating hurdles in executing the vacuum cleaning plan for the city roads by raising "unnecessary objections" to the project, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Thursday while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "devastating" Delhi through the L-G.
The proposal to mechanically sweep Delhi's dusty roads was announced last December as part of several decisions taken by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to combat alarming levels of air pollution in the city.
The Lt Governor's office has asked the AAP government to resubmit the proposal with more detailed examination from legal, administrative and financial point of view detailing implications for all stake holders.
"There is a bad news. The entire Delhi was eagerly waiting for vacuum cleaning. The L-G has put four unnecessary objections on the vacuum cleaning project which is only to stop vacuum cleaning of roads in Delhi.
"We will continue to fulfil all objections and hence, there will then be no vacuum cleaning in Delhi," Kejriwal said in a press conference.
In his observation, the L-G has asked which roads will be cleaned despite the fact that the government has already apprised him that vacuum cleaning will be executed on PWD roads, he said.
The Delhi chief minister said the clarifications sought are "unnecessary" and only aimed at "stalling the initiative".
"Written submission has been filed in the Supreme Court that vacuum cleaning will be done on the city's roads. I think that this is contempt of the Supreme Court order (by raising the objections on the proposal)," he said.
The L-G office has also asked who is the competent authority to authorise the takeover of these functions (sweeping and parking activities) from PWD to MCD and sought the Law Department's opinion on the issue.
"BJP wants to devastate Delhi through the Lt Governor. We are not taking over functions from the MCD. We are only saying that PWD will do vacuum cleaning of roads once in 10 days, but in rest of the days, MCD will do its work (cleaning of roads)," Kejriwal said.
"Neither we are asking for money from the MCD, nor we are taking over their functions, instead we are giving facility to municipal corporations," he said.
Kejriwal said that he has directed Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to meet Lt Governor next week and requested him to let the government do vacuum cleaning of the city roads aimed at bringing down dust pollution.
The L-G office refused to comment on the issue.
Around 1,280 km of the city's total road length comes under the local PWD as it is responsible only for roads which are more than 60-ft wide. The rest comes under the purview of the civic bodies.
