Under the leadership of Dr. Harsh Vardhan, BJP MLAs meet Najeeb Jung

On May 6, 2014

Taking cognizance of the memorandum on the various problems of Delhi submitted by the delegation of BJP MLAs under the leadership of Dr. Harsh Vardhan today, Lt. Governor of Delhi Shri Najeeb Jung assured that after the end of the period of Model Code of Conduct the MLA fund will be released. This fund was held up by the AAP government. He also said that the service of Battery Rickshaw will not be stopped. An appropriate way will be find out for its continuance.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that the Lt. Governor seriously considered the memorandum of BJP on the problems of Delhi and the held up developments works. He listened about the problems of power, water, price rise, water tankers, privatization of water supply, admission in school, development of unauthorized colonies, corruption in police, BJP’s stand on the problems of villages and slums and assured of solving these problems soon. He also said that he will consider the suggestions made by BJP on the problems of power, water, price rise, transport system and find a solution to these problems so that life in Delhi may improve. Lt. Governor also listened to the stand of the BJP MLAs on price rise and assured of framing a concrete policy. He also assured about forming a monitoring committee of MLAs and DCs of Delhi in all the areas.

BJP also attracted the attention of Lt. Governor on the loot of power companies. Dr. Harsh Vardhan raised question about the justification in recovering fixed charge, quarterly fuel charge etc. He told that if the companies improve their management and frame long term plan then they can make Delhi self dependent like the BJP ruled states. It is unfortunate that the power companies of Delhi always think of earning profit. They have not taken care of infrastructure development. The delegation also demanded corruption free and foolproof system of private tankers.

Strongly criticizing the Public Distribution System of Delhi BJP MLAs said that the government claimed about providing sugar, rice, wheat, coarse food grains to 73 lakh people of Delhi under Food Security Scheme. The corruption in PDS in Delhi indicates that the ration mafia will again loot hundreds of crores in Food Security Scheme also. Government should be cautious about it. Lt. Governor should frame corruption free, transparent and accountable scheme so that lakhs of people of Delhi may be provided cheap ration and sugar on time. These days the ration shops do not remain open for the whole month. They open for about 2-3 days only. Rest of the time they remain busy in black marketing the ration. This has been proved by the raids on 26 shops at the direction of Lt. Governor. The ration allotted for these 13 shops were being sold at other places.

It may be mentioned that for cheap popularity former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had made false promises to the people and announced that every citizen will be supplied 700 liters of water every day free of cost and power at 50% of the normal rates. But he did not make nay provision in the budget and hiked water tariff by 10%. He provided subsidy of 300 crores rupees from the public money to those power companies which were the target of various charges by Arvind Kejriwal. This is indicative of his double standard.

After listening to the MLAs, Lt. Governor said that they have been executing development works according to need of there constituency. Every MLA has specific knowledge of the problem of the area. After 16^th May, 2014 he will release the MLA fund. He was also of the view that the pedal rickshaw is driven by poor people which is not human. The service of battery rickshaw should be an alternative. Its service will be regulated and continued so that lakhs of people get livelihood.

The MLAs of West and South Delhi complained that there is great scarcity of water in their areas. The tankers of DJB are not sufficient. These tankers are 15 years old and not capable of serving. The DJB is not purchasing new tankers. Hence the private water mafia is exploiting the people. They also raised the issue of corruption in privatizing water supply in Malviya Nagar, Nangloi, Vasant Kunj during Sheila Dikshit regime.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that the old people are not getting pension in all 70 Assembly Constituencies due to which they are very much suffering. Lt. Governor assured of taking action in this regard. The MLAs from rural areas raised the problem of admission of the children to the schools and said that the government has framed guideline for admission to school in urban areas but not for the children of rural areas. They have to walk 10-12 KMs to attend school. A separate scheme should be framed for opening government school in rural areas. BJP MLAs also demanded the Lt. Governor to start development work in unauthorized colonies.