Delhiites throng Kejriwal with grievances
With complaints pouring in against inadequate services from all quarters, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday sought 10-day time to devise a mechanism for grievance redressal. A day after assuming office, Kejriwal said he does not want to give false assurances to people in the Capital and wanted seven to ten days time to put a system in place to address their problems.
He said he would accept the applications of people visiting him for redressal of their grievances only after a system is in place. “I don’t want to give you false assurances. I will take the application when we put a system in place to resolve the problems,” said the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has interests of the common man at the core of its agenda.
Kejriwal assured the visitors, who gathered in large numbers at his Kaushambi residence for his Janta Darbar, that he needed the support of the people to establish such a system and without their backing, he would not be able resolve issues.
“We have just assumed power. It will take us sometime, seven to ten days to put a system in place to resolve your problems,” he said, addressing a gathering which included DTC employees and people from the Valmiki community. Contractual employees of DTC and municipal corporations had come to put forward their demands to end the contract system in these bodies. They also wanted that those working for several years should be made permanent.
Around 1,000 drivers and conductors of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), working on contractual basis, shouted slogans ‘Arvind Zindabad’, hoping that the new Chief Minister would work towards ending contractual employment.
“About 14,000 drivers and conductors have been hired on contractual basis by DTC. We have been working on contractual basis for around 10 years. After such long service, DTC has still not made us permanent,” said Ramesh, a DTC driver.
“Kejriwal during election campaign promised that he would finish Thekedari Pratha (contractual service) in Delhi after becoming Chief Minister. We are very hopeful that he would direct DTC to make us permanent,” said another DTC driver, Deshpal.
As a large number of people make a beeline to Kejriwal’s residence, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police force have made special arrangements to manage the influx of visitors.
The UP Police will manage traffic and crowd influx outside the premises of Kejriwal’s residence while a team of Delhi Police in plain clothes will remain inside the housing society to manage the crowd and to prevent any untoward incident, a senior UP Police official said. The Ghaziabad police have installed a doorframe metal detector at the main gate of the society where Kejriwal lives.