Western, Eastern Express Highways; Centralised traffic plan, mono rail; smart card for all modes of transport in manifesto
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday promised immediate relief to Delhiites reeling under the impact of skyrocketing food inflation, by pledging to bring down prices of onion and other vegetables within 30 days of coming to power.
While releasing its manifesto for the December 4 elections, the BJP reiterated its promise of reducing power tariff by 30 per cent if voted to power.
To further appease people labouring under the burden of prohibitively expensive essential commodities, the BJP also promised to raise the cap on subsidized lPG cylinders.
With inflation and corruption being major sore points with Delhiites, the BJP has promptly turned these issues into its poll plank for the upcoming elections. The unique 30-day formula is a striking feature in the BJP’s agenda.
“People are fed up of the rising prices. If we come to power, we will ensure that prices of vegetables especially that of onion and tomatoes are brought under control within a month. We will also increase the number of subsidized gas cylinders from nine to 12 per family, per year,” BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan said.
The party’s manifesto was released in the presence of the BJP’s top brass, including leaders of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and lok Sabha, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel and the party’s candidate from New Delhi seat Vijender Gupta.
Talking about the track record of the BJP’s former Chief Ministers in the Capital, namely, Madan lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj, Vardhan accused Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of having done nothing during her tenure. “The three CMs from our party did much more work than what Sheila Dikshit has done in the past 15 years,” he said. He said that as Chief Minister he would work towards making Delhi a power surplus State.
“We will reduce power tariff by 30 per cent by promoting competition among the distribution companies and bringing them under RTI and CAG audit. Our Government will make every house a power house by promoting solar power, which was sorely neglected during 15 years of Dikshit’s rule. Our promise is achievable,” he promised.
The manifesto also vows to provide a ten-year tax holiday to manufacturers of solar energy equipment.
The issue of ‘complete statehood for Delhi,’ that will give the Government rights on land use, was also brought up in the BJP’s manifesto. “Full statehood will not only help ease law and order problems in the city, but will also facilitate in expediting many development projects that otherwise hang in a limbo as the Capital does not have rights of land use,” Vardhan said.
Underscoring its commitment to good governance, the party said it would promote e-governance to ensure a transparent, responsive and corruption-free administration. Vardhan vowed to form an ‘accountability commission’ to ensure efficient use of public money.
“The institution of lokayukta will be made effective with sufficient powers. Helplines will be set up for reporting corruption cases. A public grievance cell shall be established in Government offices to redress grievances in a time-bound manner,” he said.