Eyeing the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections 2020, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that free power and bus rides for women will be continued for the next five years, if the party will be re-elected for the next term to govern the city.
He made the announcement during the laying of foundation stone for the 1,164-bed super specialty hospital to be built in Badli-Siraspur.
As per the Government officials, the land for hospital in Siraspur was acquired in 1984, but none of the Governments showed interest in building the hospital.
"The Opposition parties are against 200 units of free electricity and free travel for women in buses, but both these facilities will continue to be available for the next five years when our party is re-elected," he said.
"All the other parties keep criticising me that I give everything free to people. They say the Government will run into losses. Now we have also made DTC bus rides free for women. The Opposition party criticized us for this. We spent Rs 140 crores to make women’s bus rides free. The Chief Minister of Gujarat has just bought a Rs 190 crore aircraft for his personal use. I did not buy an airplane for myself, for that money I waived the fare for our sisters. We have given free facilities to the people by saving on extravagant spending. We are providing 24 hours free electricity. Electricity bills of most people are zero. Each MP gets 4-4 thousand units of electricity free but when the poor get 200 units of electricity free, then these netas have a problem," he said.
"The Opposition is saying that all these will stop after
the election. Today I am announcing that when our Government returns to power, all the free services will continue even for the next five years. You will get 200 units of electricity free for the next five years," he said.
Speaking about the new hospital, Kejriwal said, "Land was acquired to build a hospital in Siraspur 35 years ago. Governments of all parties came and went but all of them cheated the people.
Today our Government is going to build a modern super speciality hospital with a capacity of 2,700 beds in two phases."
In the first phase, a hospital of 1,164 beds will be built. After this 1,500 more beds will be made.
This hospital will have capacity to accommodate 2,700 beds. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 487 crore.
According to the officials, the hospital construction will begin in January. The hospital will be built in 36 months.
"I will come after 36 months and inaugurate the hospital. Simultaneously, work on a 650-bed hospital is going to start in Madipur Vidhan Sabha for which funds have been sanctioned," said the CM.
"We have done a lot of work in the last five years. We are working 24 hours a day.
The vehicle of development in Delhi had come to a halt. In the last 70 years, the Governments of the other parties did nothing. Now we are driving the development of Delhi at full speed. Now we cannot afford to hit the brakes," he added.