The Delhi Government on Monday said that free yoga classes provided to Delhiites will be discontinued from November 1 in what could trigger a fresh confrontation between the AAP government and the Lieutenant Governor. Sources in the Arvind Kejriwal government claimed on Monday that Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has not approved the extension of the scheme after October 31. The board of governors of the Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University (DPSRU), which runs the programme, had given its nod to the continuation of the scheme at its meeting held last week.
Sources at the LG’s office, however, said they have not received any file on the continuation of the programme beyond October 31. They said even earlier, they had not received any file and Sisodia had only written a letter demanding that the programme be continued. “It is wrong to state that the LG has not approved the extension of the program due to which it is being discontinued. How can we consider a letter as a proposal?” sources asked.
“The ‘Dilli ki Yogshala’ classes have been discontinued from tomorrow i.E. 1.11.22 via a government order. In the BoG meeting of DPSRU decision to continue the classes was taken, however Hon. LG has not given permission yet. We will keep you informed upon further information,” said a tweet from the official Twitter page of Dilli Ki Yogshala.
Tagging the tweet on the closure of the programme, Sisodia alleged in a tweet in Hindi: “The board of the university wants that the yogshala should continue for the people of Delhi, the government has also given the budget but still, an order has been issued to close the ‘Yogshala of Delhi’ by intimidating officers. For now, 590 yoga classes in Delhi’s parks will be closed from tomorrow ( October 31).”
Sources said that under pressure from Lt Governor , officers have issued orders to suspend the program despite DPSRU’s Board of Governors approval to extend the programme beyond October 31. The Board of Governor evaluated the merits of the programme and approved its extension under the DPSRU Act. The recommendation for its extension was to be placed for ratification before the university’s general council, chaired by the LG, sources added.
All the board members were present at the meeting. According to the sources, among the agenda items, the one for “Consideration of the Continuation of ‘Dilli Ki Yogshala’ as Outreach Programme of the University” was taken up during the meeting.