In a bid to make Delhi drug-free in 3 yrs, month-long drive from Dec 1
Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena has announced a one-month anti-drug campaign, starting from 1st December, in a bid to combat the menace of drug abuse in the national capital.
The Supreme Court on Monday chided Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government for expressing its inability to provide funds for the construction of the Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) project, citing paucity of money and directed it to furnish the details of funds it has spent on the advertisements in the last three financial years (FYs).
Taking exception to the Delhi government citing the financial constraints to fund the project, a bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia told Delhi government: “If you have money for advertisements, why don’t you have money for a project that will ensure smooth transport?”
Giving two weeks’ time to the Delhi government to furnish the details of the publicity expenditure in the last three financial years, the bench in its order said: “The Delhi State government has expressed its inability to contribute the funds for the project. Since the paucity of funds seems to be an impediment in the project on behalf of NCT of Delhi, we call upon the NCT of Delhi to file an affidavit setting forth the funds utilised for advertisements by the State government as the project is of considerable importance. Details be furnished for the last three financial years.”
Advertisement
The top court order came while hearing petitions relating to environmental issues.
During the hearing, the bench was informed that the Delhi government was not ready to contribute towards the project, particularly relating to Delhi-Alwar (Rajasthan) and Delhi-Panipat (Haryana) corridors.
One of the advocates appearing in the matter told the bench that the Delhi government has taken a similar stand and refrained from releasing funds towards the Delhi-Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) corridor.
The Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) project is slated to be a semi-high-speed rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut.
This corridor will connect the cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut and is one of the three rapid rail corridors planned under Phase I of the RapidX project.
Advertisement
