Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday presented report card of BJP-ruled Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs), alleging that the "pathetic" state of waste disposal in the city is making people call it the "garbage capital.
Sharing the statistics of various sectors under the MCD and Delhi Government, Kejriwal highlighted the loopholes of the MCD across education, healthcare, sanitation, and other domains. Comparing education sector in primary schools of the MCD as well as the Delhi Government senior secondary schools, he said that the MCD has shut down 109 schools in the last nine years and the Delhi Government has opened 20,000 new classrooms in their schools in the last five years.
"The strength of the MCD schools in the last nine years has gone down by 2,50,000. The same trend can be noted with the decreasing strength of private schools in Delhi, as parents are taking their wards out from private schools and admitting them in schools run by the Delhi Government," he said.
The Delhi government schools are equipped with all the facilities such as swimming pools, lifts, sports grounds, and complexes, he said, adding that according to a recent study, around 74 per cent of students completing education till 5th standard from MCD schools cannot read a simple text from their Hindi textbooks. "On the other hand, the passing percentage of the 12th standard students of the Delhi government schools is 96 per cent this year, more than the private schools where the passing percentage is 93 per cent," he said.
Talking about the issue of sanitation and cleanliness in Delhi, he said, "The BJP and the MCD have made Delhi the garbage capital of India, with open dhalaos and dumps of garbage across every nook and corner of the city. "This is a matter of shame for Delhi that Delhi is rated at the bottom position in the BJP's Swachh Bharat Mission, with Delhi MCDs rated amongst the bottom 10 of the 49 largest cities for cleanliness by Government of India in December 2019," he said.
Kejriwal also highlighted the inconvenience caused to people due to huge garbage mountain in Ghazipur. "The biggest gift of the BJP to Delhi is the garbage and waste mountain in Ghazipur, which is expected to cross the height of the Taj Mahal in Agra," he said.
"Almost 80-90 per cent of toilets constructed by MCDs do not have water or electricity facility. Most of them often remain locked. In comparison, the Delhi government's DUSIB has built and ensured good maintenance of 20,000 community toilets built between 2010 and 2018," he added.
The Chief Minister also revealed the figures of a recent audit carried out by the internal audit agency of the MCD. As per a recent internal audit released by MCD's audit unit, South MCD has Rs. 1,177 Cr outstanding arrears of property tax. And we know why there has not been a single attempt to recover the amount," he said, adding that the North MCD's chief auditor has found Rs. 3,299 Cr of financial irregularities.
In the healthcare sector, Kejriwal said that no additional dispensary was constructed in the MCD hospitals in last seven years. Most of the MCD dispensaries and hospitals are poorly maintained, with no availability of medicines, missing roof tiles, falling wall plasters, dirty corridors, and toilets, etc," he said.
In the last three years, the combined health budget of all the three MCDs has reduced by Rs. 97 Cr, he said, adding that on the other hand, the Delhi government has added 450 new mohalla clinics and 26 polyclinics in the last five years.
"The number of beds in hospital has increased from 7,200 to nearly 10,000 and the construction of three new government hospitals is nearing completion. All mohalla clinics have an air-conditioned with state of the art facilities and hygienic environment, which is appreciated across the globe. The health budget in Delhi has increased from 3,500 Cr to 7,500 Cr in the last five years," he said.
Reacting on BJP's claim of providing five times subsidy on water and electricity to the people than the current subsidy by the AAP government, Kejriwal said "We provide 200 units of free electricity, will they provide 1000 units of free electricity as per their claims? We provide 20,000 litres of free water; will they provide 1 lakh litres of free water? And if what they are claiming is true, they should sanction the provision of free water and electricity in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to gain the trust of the people of Delhi."
"The people now have to decide between the governance of the BJP and the Delhi Police and the governance of the AAP with improvements in the education and health sectors in the city. I hope that the people will cast their votes based on the good governance model of the AAP in Delhi," he said.