Farishtey scheme: Delhi Govt shirking responsibility by blaming me: L-G Saxena

New Delhi, December 16

Delhi Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena has accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led government of “shirking responsibilities” in regards the Farishtey scheme, expressing surprise that it filed a case in the Supreme Court alleging that he was responsible for stopping the scheme.

In his letter dated December 14, Saxena wrote to the Delhi Chief Minister, “The scheme under question and the operationalisation thereof is under the Health Department and the Finance Department, which are fully transferred subjects as per the Constitution and totally under the control of you and your ministers.”

The L-G referred in his letter to news reports, according to which, the Delhi Government counsel attributed the stopping of the Farishtey scheme meant for road victims to him before the Supreme Court.

The Lieutenant-Governor wrote that the total number of beneficiaries under the Farishtey scheme during 2022-23 was 3,698 and it stood at 3,604 in the seven months of 2023-24.

The government under the scheme in 2022-23 paid private hospitals Rs 4.85 crore and till October this fiscal, it had paid them Rs 3.54 crore, he said.

Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed the L-G has been misinformed that a payment of Rs 3.54 crore has been made till October this year. The truth was that only Rs 2.08 crore had been paid, he said.