Against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking stock of the performance of the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government which assumed charge in March this year, the Chief Minister huddled himself in a brain-storming session with the senior BJP leaders and those of the party's ideological mentor RSS in Dehradun on Wednesday evening.
It is understood that the party top brass has instructed the party and the Government to embark on a publicity blitz on the works done by the Government over the past few months in the interests of the common people of the State, particularly, the highlanders aside from those now in the pipeline.
Those privy to the meeting said the CM has briefed the senior RSS leaders about the plans and projects the State Government has envisaged to bring about long-term development of the State. Besides, the matter of the possible Cabinet expansion with some posts lying vacant is said to have figured in course of the closed- door meeting. There are presently nine Cabinet Ministers in the State while two more can be inducted, given the maximum limit of 15 per cent of the 70 MlAs being inducted in the State Cabinet.
The meeting was attended among others by the RSS leaders Dattatreya Hosbole and Dr Krishna Gopal aside from the BJP's national general secretary Ram lal, national assistant general secretary Shiv Prakash, State BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju and state BJP president Ajay Bhatt.
Sources further said that the meeting discussed the matter of state BJP and RSS activists being accommodated into the government in one way or the other. Observers say that there is a possibility of the state government appointing the hardcore party and RSS activists as chairmen, deputy chairmen and members of the state government- run committees and boards, in keeping with the long- continuing practice of the state.
Recently, in the posh South Delhi lajpat Nagar, three people - Joginder (32), Annu (28) and a 25-year-old man, yet to be identified - died after inhaling poisonous gases while cleaning a sewer. “Two brothers in Anand Vihar and four in Ghitorni died the same way. In around a month, 10 sanitation workers have died while cleaning the sewage pipeline manually in this city,” said activists, who keep an eye on such developments.
The l-G has also directed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to study and propose a plan of action for migration to 100 per cent mechanisation for sewers and drains’ cleaning within 15 day in coordination with chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Commissioner of South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
In presence of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and PWD Minister Satyender Jain at the meeting on Monday, the l-G directed the CEO (DJB) to prepare a regime for cases requiring emergency manual intervention as per law within a week’s time.
Secretary (SC/ST) of the Delhi Government was directed to upload all the notifications clarifying the legal position on the website so that it can be in public domain for benefit of the contractors as well as the users. The DJB Minister Rajender Pal Gautam had reacted sharply to the incident and was present during the high-level meeting this week.