Hours before taking oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal on Friday visited his constituency of New Delhi to a grand welcome by his voters. In keeping with its agenda of Swaraj and direct democracy, Kejriwal organised his first Mohalla Sabha in the area ever since he announced to form the Government in the Capital. It being a posh locality and largely dominated by Government servants, the issues raised by residents here were not of water or power. Instead, their problems ranged from contractual jobs to medical schemes.
“The oath-taking is yet to happen. There is still a day left, but I have first come to you all. I know you all have high expectations from me. I will try to work on each of your issues one by one,” Kejriwal said in his opening line. After having defeated political heavyweight Sheila Dikshit in the constituency by over 25,000 votes in the December 8 Assembly polls, Kejriwal saw himself in the middle of over 1,000 residents at Valmiki Sadan.
Entering the locality at 5.20 pm, Kejriwal first visited the Valmiki temple and then headed toward the Sabha. The crowd which had a distinct blend of youth and senior citizens, cheered as Kejriwal made his way to his seat. But, all of them had hopes pinned on their MlA and Chief Minister. “The NDMC has deputed contractors for works like garbage cleaning. Our people who have been working under these contractors face a lot of exploitation with no increase in wages for years together,” said Cheema Maharaj, head, Valmiki Sadan.
The Chief Minister designate made his intentions clear that he will abolish contractual job system in the Capital. Reacting to people’s disapproval on the newly implemented health referral system by the New Delhi Municipal Council, he asserted that the civic body would re-introduce the old medical scheme. As several complained of not getting their due compensatory jobs, Kejriwal said, “I see no reason why jobs should not be given to those whose working family member has expired. This will be taken care of.” The issue of ‘housing’ was also raised, to which Kejriwal said that he would need to refer to the existing policies.
The Sabha also had Secretary of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Vikas Anand and other officials who accompanied their council member, Kejriwal, to his next meeting at Kali Bari Marg. The NDMC is the civic agency which is responsible for the maintenance of the New Delhi area.