Sharpening his attack against the Delhi government over the Anaj Mandi fire incident that claimed 43 lives, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday accused the AAP dispensation of stalling a notification for the redevelopment plan of an area in Old Delhi.
Responding to the accusation, the AAP government hit back at the Union housing and urban affairs minister saying the HUA's statement on the issue had glaring "factual inaccuracies and prima facie errors".
Taking to Twitter, Puri posted several written communications sent by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to the Delhi government's urban development department with regards to issuance of notification for redevelopment plan of 'Special Area'.
"The resolution was sent to Delhi Govt on 12.09.2017 for notification in the official gazette. They wrote back after 8 months on 11.05.2018 wanting to know under what section of DMC Act was this proposal sent to them. Eight Months," he tweeted.
In another tweet, the Union minister said, "A response was sent to them on 29.06.2018 clarifying that similar proposals had been earlier notified by them in the past. A reminder was sent to them (Delhi government) on 23.08.2018 & again on 09.01.2019 to notify the redevelopment plan at the earliest. They have not acted on it till now."
Puri said facts do not speak lie and truth cannot be suppressed.
Reacting to Puri's accusations, the Delhi government issued a statement, rejecting all the claims made by the Union Housing and Urban Development Ministry.
"Not only did Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain receive this file on 26th August this year and he immediately cleared it within less than 24 hours, the facts with regards to 'Redevelopment of Special Area of Old Delhi' are startling," the statement read.
In the 23rd meeting of the board of directors of Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC) held on August 17, 2017 under the chairmanship of Jain, the SRDC had decided to forward the Preliminary Project Report (PPR) duly prepared for Revitalisation of Shahjahanabad to the MoHUA for its consideration under the Centre's HRIDAY Scheme, it stated.
The SRDC prepared an in-house PPR for comprehensive Revitalisation of Shahjahanabad considering not only infrastructural need but also socio-economic aspects and transportation requirements.
"The total estimation for revitalisation programme for Shahjahanabad is calculated to be Rs 1468.86 Crore (approx.), which also included undergrounding of electrical cables in inner streets of these areas in 6 municipal wards of Old Delhi," the statement read.
The request was the sent to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on September 1, 2017 and a reminder was sent on March 16, 2018, requesting it to consider the PPR for revitalization of Shahjanabad for early implementation under the HRIDAY scheme.
"Next reminder was again sent to the ministry on May 10, 2018 to consider the request. There has been no response from the Union ministry till date," the Delhi government said in the statement.
"Nevertheless, the fact remains that in December 2018, the Delhi government has been able to initiate redevelopment of Chandni Chowk project which is slated to be completed by March 2020 in record times despite various constraints," the statement added.
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