Faced with the nightmare of a water crisis in the national Capital as summer draws near, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has hit upon a novel idea of ensuring that the common man does not suffer too much. He has asked the Delhi Jal Board to cut water supply to VIPs, including him and all Ministers, if there is a water shortage in future.
However, the water supply to the Prime Minister’s house, Rashtrapati Bhawan, embassies and other emergency services will remain unaffected. Announcing this during a speech in the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal said: “If there is a crisis, VIPs too, will face it.”
“There is no reason why only the common man must suffer during a water crisis. In future if there is a shortage, ensure that everyone, including VIPs, have to bear the brunt of it. The only people to be excluded are the President, Prime Minister, hospitals and embassies,” he said.
Anticipating a water crisis in the summer as the Haryana Government has refused to give extra water to Delhi, Kejriwal stated that if there’s a water shortage in the near future then the public should not bear the brunt of it alone.
Kejriwal alleged that before elections the Haryana Government was supplying Delhi with water but soon after the exit polls it stopped the supply. “There should be no politics over water. So this year, if there is any shortage, then the DJB should supply it equally in the city. Water shortage will be faced by all VIPs, starting with me,” he said.
“If there is shortage of water, then supply to VIPs and central ministries should also be affected,” he said. It would be pertinent to mention that with the mercury rising, some parts of the city are already facing a water crisis.
Kejriwal was speaking in Delhi Assembly on the VAT amendment Bill allowing carry forward to traders next year. Blaming the BJP for the financial crisis in the three municipal corporations run by it, Kejriwal asked the party to resign and give charge to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to turn the situation around within a year.
“If BJP-led corporations cannot pay salaries to their staff, then they should resign and let AAP run them. We will change the financial condition within a year and bring them into profit,” the Chief Minister said. last week, mayors of the three civic agencies had met Kejriwal seeking Rs 302 crores.
He alleged that the reason why the corporations were going into losses was massive corruption. “When we left the Government last year, it was in profit. For the last one year it has been under the Central Government and now there is an Rs 4,500-crore shortfall. Similarly, the BJP-led civic agencies are in loss. Wherever the BJP involves itself, they incur losses,” he said.
He alleged the corporations were sealing shops in Delhi in the name of collecting conversion charges. “Everybody talks about creating an environment where there will be ease of doing business. But civic agencies are sealing shops on the pretext of collecting conversion tax. If you will close shops then how will they do business and pay taxesIJ The civic agencies need to end corruption to run successfully,” he said.
Kejriwal claimed that the AAP Government had stopped routine raids on traders during his last tenure. “During our last tenure we stopped raids on traders so they voted for us. Similarly this year we have ordered that raids be carried out on specific information only,” Kejriwal said. He appealed to traders to pay their taxes and assured them that all the money would be utilised for development of the city.
Kejriwal blamed the Central Government for not giving Rs 600 crore, which it was supposed to transfer to municipal corporations. In order to increase the revenue of the city, Kejriwal demanded that Delhi’s share from central taxes be increased.
“Delhi contributed Rs 65,000 crore from income and service taxes to the Centre but in return we got only Rs 325 crore. This is wrong. If the Central Government increases our share then we will be able to return more. With a larger share we will open new industries and create employment and will finally contribute to the economy. At least give 10 per cent of what we contribute,” he said.