Calling himself a “sevak” of the people of Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday sought to give a “statement” of AAP Government’s work to the “master” who paid for that work through their taxes. Claiming that providing free water, free healthcare, cheap electricity and the odd-even scheme are the biggest achievements of his Government in the last one year, he credited it all to his Ministers, MlAs, Government officers and the support of people.
“I did not do all this work. I have no department under me. It is the hard work of the officers, Ministers, MlAs along with the support of the people of Delhi which has made it all possible,” Kejriwal said.
Calling free water and cheap electricity to be the biggest achievements of his Government, Kejriwal claimed that power tariff in Delhi is among the least in the country. He said, “When we started, Delhi had one of the highest power tariffs in the country. But now it has third least tariffs in India. We had hoped that tariffs will come further down once CAG report is tabled. We got a setback from the High Court when it struck down the CAG audit report, but we hope to get a positive judgment from the Supreme Court.”
The Chief Minister also appreciated the odd-even scheme and called it one of the biggest achievements of his Government. “Odd-even scheme has been very unpopular wherever it has been implemented. Yet, in Delhi, it was the most popular of our initiatives. That is because we took people along. It was so popular that people want it back. And we are bringing it back from April 15,” he said.
Earlier, beginning his address to the Delhiites, Kejriwal said that it is time to give account to the public, which is the actual “master”.
“Public is the master for two reasons. First, they voted for us and gave us the right to make decisions on their behalf. And second, all work that we do, including our salaries, is paid for by the taxes paid by the people. Even a beggar pays so many taxes when he buys a matchbox. So it is the responsibility of the sevak to give account to his malik. And the sevak is standing here right now to do that,” Kejriwal said.
On the issue of education, he alleged that the former Education Ministers had been systematically destroyed the Government schools for the last 20-25 years to benefit private schools. “They did so because even they had been running two-three private schools. We had constantly been hearing that education budget should be six-seven per cent of the total budget. And we allocated 25 per cent of the funds for education,” Kejriwal said, adding that 64 schools have been selected on a pilot basis where the Government plans to provide better facilities than even the private schools.
“In the next few years, all the 1,100 Government schools in the city will run on the same model as these 64 schools and will function better than private schools,” he said. He also added that the Government will bring the number of students in a classroom to around 50-60 from the current scenario where 100-125 students are accommodated in a single classroom.
“Apart from 8,000 classrooms for which construction has started, 45 new schools are also being built which will start functioning in around 12 to 18 months. We have also identified 100 pieces of land where new schools will be constructed. Eventually we want to have a classroom for every 35-40 students,” Kejriwal said.
On health sector, Kejriwal said that the Government intends to give best health facilities in Government hospitals for which a 3-tier setup is planned. “We increased the health budget by 50 per cent last year. We have already made medicines free in Government hospitals. I have told the doctors that I will ensure funds and they will have to ensure that medicines that they prescribed are available at the medicine counters in the hospitals,” he said.
“We are creating a three-tier health infrastructure that will include 1,000 mohalla clinics, 150 polyclinics and then super-speciality hospitals. For minor health issues and tests, one can go to mohalla clinics. To see a specialist, they can avail facilities of polyclinics. And only those who need highly specialized medical care need to go to hospitals. Health minister has assured me that 1,000 mohalla clinics will be ready by end of December this year and 150 polyclinics by next February 14,” he added.
Twenty polyclinics were inaugurated on Sunday. However, diagnostic equipment is yet to be installed there which will take another six months, Health Minister Satyendra Jain had earlier said.
Stating that PWD usually has the image of the most corrupt department but the same PWD saved Rs 350 crore in construction of three flyovers. He also said that the department will start vacuum cleaning of roads from April 1.
Kejriwal also listed achievements of Food and Supplies Minister Imran Hussain who started biometric system in 42 ration stores adding that by May 31, all stores will have the system.