Delhi Congress president and former Union Minister Ajay Maken on Sunday blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government and the BJP-led municipal bodies for the current plight of Delhi due to the ongoing strike by the civic employees in protest against the non-payment of
their salaries.
Thousands of Congress workers, holding banners and placards, distributed pamphlets and protested against the AAP and the BJP in 14 districts all across the city.
Maken said the people of Delhi were suffering only because of the ongoing fight between the AAP and BJP Governments. Addressing demonstrators, he said when the Congress was in power in Delhi for 15 years out of which BJP had been ruling the MCD for 10 years, his party never ever troubled and allowed the MCD to suffer due to financial crunch. He said the Congress Government went out of its way to help the MCDs so as to ensure that the people did not suffer.
Maken said the AAP Government had made tall promises like regularising the ad hoc employees, providing free WiFi connections in Delhi, but it has failed to deliver on any of these promises. He said he would leave politics if it was brought to his notice that even if two ad hoc employees had been
regularised, and even if a single instance of free WiFi connections had been provided in the Capital.
The Congress leader said it was a travesty of justice that the MCD sanitation workers have been facing such a fate under the hands of the AAP whose election symbol was broom, and they had run after the AAP during the Assembly elections believing that their interests would be protected by a party which wielded broom as its election symbol. He said the BJP, which was taking pride in its “Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan”, has now turned Delhi into a very big garbage dump under the party’s rule at the Centre and the MCDs.
He said the inability of the AAP and the BJP to provide efficient governance, and due to their politicking, people of Delhi have been put to tremendous hardship and suffering.
Maken said the Budget for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s self publicity has gone up by 2400 per cent, the devolution of funds to the MCDs has come down by 21.45 per cent and as a result, Delhi was suffering.
He said when the Congress was in power in Delhi, and when such a situation had arisen, the then Government had sanctioned `322 crore under the Wages and Means account for the MCDs to tide over its financial crisis, and `150 crore for Municipal Reforms. He asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal why there was no money to pay the wages of the MCD employees and the pensions, whereas he was making changes in the law to pay monthly salary of `3 lakh to each MlA.
Maken said while the common people had to obey the odd-even rule, the Kejriwal Government decided to give `12 lakh to each of its MlAs so that they could buy two cars of `6 lakh each to beat the odd-even rule.
He said this was the same Kejriwal who had claimed that the AAP MlAs would neither avail of office space nor any official vehicle from the Government, but rules
were changed to sanction Rs 35,000 per month as rent for the MlAs to hire offices
and houses.
He said while the people of Delhi and the country were burdened by price rise, the Kejriwal Government has made changes in the rules to allow the MlAs to draw ` 3 lakh per month, and `15 lakh for five years, as travel allowance to make jolly jaunts.