Automated tax collection at Delhi-Gurugram border soon

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 15

The BJP government today virtually hijacked the meeting between Chief Minister Manohr Lal Khattar and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, convened to discuss the issue of smog in Delhi, to flag long-pending inter-state issues.

The two leaders later came up with a joint statement and jointly addressed the media, resolving to to work towards an action plan to tackle pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), yet Khattar used the occasion to bring to the notice of his Delhi courterpart certain pending issues concerning roads and water and extracted assurance from Kejriwal to speed up work on these.

Armed with an battery of senior bureaucrats led by Chief Secretary DS Dhesi and his Principal Secretary Rajesh Khullar, Khattar succeeded in scoring some brownie points over his Delhi counterpart. Incidentally, Kejriwal, who was accompanied by Environment Minister Imran Hussain, Adviser PK Jain and Environment Secretary Keshav Chandra, was clearly outnumbered by ‘Team Khattar’.

Some important assurances Khattar was able to obtain from Kejriwal included elevated road link from Ashram Chowk to Badarpur and automation of tax collection at the entry point into Delhi from Gurugram on NH-48, which would go a long way in easing traffic congestion.

Bonhomie marked the day as the two Chief Ministers avoided any contentious issue despite provocation during the joint press briefing. The BJP government heaved a sigh of relief with Kejriwal, a known BJP baiter, preferred to strike a reconciliatory note, urging for a joint fight to tackle pollution in Delhi.

This was in sharp contrast to public posturing of Khattar and Kejriwal in recent days, with both taking potshots at each other over failure to check pollution levels in Delhi.

Acquisition and development of the 80-metre-wide link road in NCT-Delhi to link Dwarka with Gurugram, linking the MG Road with Nelson Mandela T-point near Basant Kunj flyover, widening of the link road between Mehrauli road near Andheria Mor in Delhi to the Gurugram-Faridabad road near Gwal Pahari, having a 75-metre-wide road link in the Delhi area between Sectors 109 and 114 of the Gurugram-Manesar Urban Complex, connecting the Gurugram area with the Najafgarh road, and non-release of pending payment of Rs 287.91 crore by the Delhi Jal Board towards the cost of construction of a carrier lined channel were some of the issues raised by Haryana.