BJP vows to fight back
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 15 — The BJP today promised that all victims of the 1984 riots would be given compensation soon and the culprits of the 1984 riots would be brought to book.

Releasing the BJP’s manifesto for the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections here today, the president of the Delhi unit of BJP, Mr Mange Ram Garg, promised that Punjabi would be given the status of second language.

"Punjabi language teachers will be recruited as per their requirement and the vacant posts of the Punjabi teachers will be filled up," he said.

BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, said: "Delhi 2021 will be our target and our dream is to make the Capital the best administered state in the country."

Reiterating the promise for granting of full statehood to Delhi, Mrs Swaraj said Delhi’s masterplan was up to 2001 and the BJP would be continuing its efforts to providing the basic amenities for the residents of the Capital with a vision for the future.

"We will work to meet the projected requirements of the people in the next 20 years", Mrs Sushma Swaraj said.

After the killing of the Samata Party candidate from Nangloi Jat Assembly constituency, the former Chief Ministers of Delhi, Mr Madan Lal Khurana and Mr Sahib Singh Verma, who were at loggerheads over the leadership issue today for the first time, shared a common platform at the release of the manifesto.

The chairman of the election committee, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said the BJP would go to the polls unitedly and highlight the performance of the Delhi government under BJP rule in the last five years.

"The transparency of the elected representatives is the bed-rock of democracy. A moral code of conduct will be laid down for the elected representatives and it will be compulsory for them to declare their assets," the manifesto promises.

The next two decades’ perspective plan would be prepared for meeting the increasing demand for electricity. The proposed plants for power generation in Delhi will be commissioned at the earliest. "In Bawana, 651 MG and 420 MG power plants will be installed. 300 MG power plant will be installed in Narela and some other small power projects of 100 to 150 MG will also be installed," the manifesto states.

The manifesto states that a master plan for water supply for the next two decades will be prepared. "The objective will be to make available 1200 MGD water. Scientific and latest methods of storage of rain water will be adopted. Also effective steps will be taken to ensure the availability of raw water."

The promises for improving the traffic conditions include the construction of an express highway on the periphery of Delhi so that traffic outside Delhi may not enter the city and 50 flyovers, 100 underground subways, cycle lanes and footpaths will be constructed.

On sanitation, the manifesto promises that all the old sewer lines of Old Delhi will be replaced by new ones and "new sewer lines will be laid in all the unauthorised colonies and villages."

To ease the housing crisis in the Capital, the manifesto states that the Centre will be urged upon to rescind the Urban Ceiling Act. "A housing board of Delhi has already been constituted and through it 50,000 housing units will be constructed every year for the poor. The Delhi Development Authority will construct at least 25,000 housing units every year for the middle class people," the manifesto states.

Apparently referring to the dropsy deaths in Delhi caused by the consumption of adulterated mustard oil, the manifesto states "the punishment for the people indulging in adulteration in food articles will be made stringent and the laboratories will be modernised. Health insurance of all citizens will be done."

The Guru Teg Bahadur Chair will be established in the new Indraprastha University. This is one of the several promises made on the education sector. "The Delhi School Education Act will be amended to tackle the new situations arising in the education sector and to protect the interest of guardians, teachers and students," the manifesto states.

For the economically weaker sections, the BJP promises to provide all basic amenities. "The slum dwellers will not be uprooted without providing alternative places to them. Four-storeyed housing units will be constructed and allotted on the Mumbai pattern," the manifesto states.

The manifesto also promises capital punishment to rapists. "The jurisdiction of the Delhi Mahila Commission will be expanded. The reservation for women in all the elected bodies will be 33 per cent."

Attacking the Congress, the chairman of the campaign committee, Mr O P Kohli, said the Congress had no concern for the problems of the people of Delhi. "The last five years has been an era of inertia on the part of the Congress. The Congress failed even to play the role of an active opposition neither outside nor inside the Legislative Assembly," he said.