Responding to BJP’s allegation of irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the AAP pointed out that the bureaucracy in Delhi reports to the Centre and hence the BJP has all the powers to take disciplinary action against any official.

The BJP had alleged a scam in tender process for upgrading sewerage treatment plants in Delhi.

The AAP said the ruling dispensation at the Centre was alleging that some officers of the DJB violated tender guidelines, while on the other hand the BJP chose to protect corrupt officials of the Delhi government, including the Chief Secretary.

The AAP accused the BJP of inaction when it comes to taking action against the erring officials despite having powers, and coming up with allegation of a new scam every day, which is nothing but, a political drama, AAP added.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party said the Delhi government itself asked the DJB and the Finance Department to identify errant officers based on complaints received so far, but no action has been in this regard.

The AAP further said that ministers play no role whatsoever in the tendering process, which is all handled by concerned officials.

It is not the minister’s responsibility to go into the technicalities and rules of NGT, DPCC, or CPCB; but rather the job of DJB officials to take cognizance of such standards, the party added.

“It is well known that the GNCTD Act does not give powers to elected government to take any action. But if any kind of wrongdoing has taken place, we would urge LG to take strongest possible action against anyone who has worked against public interest,”  the AAP said in a  statement.

Meanwhile on Monday, the BJP demanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation blaming him for the scam in the DJB tender process.

Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia claimed that the contractors were paid more than the estimated costs of the project to upgrade the sewer treatment plants.

While the estimated cost was around Rs 1,500 crore, the tenders were awarded at a rate of around Rs 1938 crore, he added.

Raising questions over Detailed Procedure Report (DPR) on the issue, which is supposed to be prepared for such projects according to government rules, Bhatia said only two reports were prepared in this connection whereas there were ten projects.

Squarely blaming the AAP supremo for the scam, Bhatia demanded his resignation.