Lieutenant-Governor again hits out at CM Kejriwal over ‘uninhabitable’ conditions

Tribune News Service

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, March 6

Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) VK Saxena today hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal once again for “uninhabitable” conditions in the northeast area here.

On ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter, Saxena said, “On Tuesday evening, I went to Qalandar Colony in Shahdara, northeast Delhi, and saw the condition, which is worse than hell. It is not possible to express the plight of the people in words, who are living amidst potholes in the name of roads, clogged drains, heaps of garbage and foul smell.”

The L-G has been visiting urban villages to inspect the sanitation conditions. On Tuesday, the L-G had visited Sangam Vihar, while earlier, he had inspected Burari and Kirari areas in north Delhi.

“Local people said the area has a population of 35,000 to 40,000, who lead a miserable life in 4,000 houses. It is the responsibility of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to provide basic facilities in the slum area and you are the chairman of the board. The responsibility of cleanliness is with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi,” he wrote in his post.

Chief Minister Kejriwal yesterday in a post on ‘X’, thanked the L-G for pointing out the shortcomings in another area. The Chief Minister had ordered the Chief Secretary to address these shortcomings within seven days.

“The work, which are being done by you, should have been done by the Opposition. It is the job of the Opposition to point out the shortcomings of the ruling party. Unfortunately, today all the seven MPs of the Opposition (i.e. BJP) are busy retiring from politics and eight MLAs are fast asleep. This is the reason why the BJP has been away from power for the past 26 years. Therefore, you are forced to play the role of Opposition despite holding the constitutional post of L-G,” he wrote.

The CM further said the “services” and “vigilance” departments were under the purview of the L-G. “If these were under me, I would not only have immediately suspended such careless officials but would have also taken such action against them that no other officer would dare to commit such a careless act,” he said.

Kejriwal added, “I hope you will immediately suspend the most senior officers of these departments and give them exemplary punishment.”

On Wednesday, the L-G launched another attack on Kejriwal and he said, “Dear Arvind Kejriwal sir, being the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, it is my constitutional responsibility and duty to highlight the issues of the people before the Chief Minister of my government and draw your attention towards the problems being faced by the people of Delhi.”

“This is nothing new. Since the first day of taking charge, I walked more than 1,600 km in different areas of Delhi in 650 days and took stock of the situation and always kept you informed about the problems. I have been doing this for the past 1.5 years and will continue to do so in future,” he added.

Responding to the L-G’s visit to northeast Delhi, the Delhi Government said the L-G is playing “dirty politics” and the Chief Minister had ordered the Chief Secretary to solve the issues and urged the L-G to take strict actions against the delinquent officers.

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