Confronting every allegation made by the Opposition, the Delhi Congress on Saturday slammed Delhi BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for making ‘impossible’ promises to woo voters in the city. The party not only justified its stand on issues like water, power tariff and higher education, but also called Delhi BJP’s decision to set up an Accountability Commission as ‘drama’.
“We suggested to Vijay Goel, president of Delhi BJP, to first set up the Accountability Commission in party ruled three Municipal Corporations. On Friday, they went and met the Delhi lieutenant Governor, which was completely out of context. If they were so serious about the Commission, they could have just passed a resolution in the Houses of civic bodies and sent it for approval to us,” said Arvinder Singh lovely, Delhi’s Urban Development Minister. A delegation of the Delhi
BJP on Friday met l-G Najeeb Jung, urging him to take necessary steps for setting up an Accountability Commission in Delhi. While speaking at a media briefing held at Chief Minister’s residence, Power Minister Haroon Yusuf also criticised Goel for misleading the people of Delhi on the issue of reducing power tariff. While both the BJP and AAP accused the incumbent Government of having done nothing even as power tariff inflated by 300 per cent during their 15-year tenure, the Minister quashed all their figures as ‘factually incorrect’.
“The cost of procuring electricity has increased from Rs 1.50 per unit in 2002 to Rs 6.80 in 2012 and 2013. Goel should also refer to the increase in usage and peak demand that his Government 15 years ago could never manage. The tariff for consumption of 200 to 400 units has increased from Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 during our time, whereas only 17 per cent of Delhi’s population consumes power above 400 units. Goel’s claim of reducing power tariff by 30 per cent is a big lie,” said Yusuf.
On the issue of water crisis in the Capital, PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chouhan said the water distribution network has been strengthened in the last 15 years and alleged that BJP has been resorting to spreading ‘canards’ against the Government. “Once again, Goel shows no ‘accountability’ for his claims. Real picture as the census of India in 2011 shows 95 per cent of households in Delhi have access to safe drinking water and 81.3 per cent have access to tap water. Clearly the figure today would be even higher. How can he claim that 50 per cent of households in the city have no access to drinking waterIJ” questioned Chouhan. “The BJP has alleged that no new colleges have been opened up in the last 15 years in Delhi and only 21 per cent of applicants are gaining admission to Delhi University. We have opened over seven universities, which include National law University and Ambedkar University. Moreover, the Congress Government has created additional capacity of 50,000 seats in higher education,” lovely added.