The MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) trooped into the well of the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday to protest against the stalling of the one-time settlement scheme for the water bills in Delhi as the speaker had to adjourn the house for the day.

In a demonstration in the assembly, the AAP MLAs demanded that the lieutenant governor should suspend guilty officers, and the BJP should allow Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to waive off water bills.

According to Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, 10.60 lakh consumer bills of the Delhi Jal Board have turned out to be false, and the CM wants to correct the anomaly and provide relief to the public.

The scheme for one-time settlement of the bills was passed by the DJB in June 2023. However, the officers are not bringing it up before the cabinet, he alleged.

Bharadwaj said the reason behind the MLAs raising the issue in the house is that even after getting an assurance from the LG, nothing has happened in this regard, as yet.

Meanwhile, Minister Atishi alleged that the LG and the BJP have control over Delhi government officers and as a part of a conspiracy are not allowing this scheme to be implemented.

It is the anger of the people of Delhi against the BJP that has been seen in the Delhi Assembly through MLAs, Atishi claimed.

During their protest inside the assembly, the AAP MLAs raised slogans against the BJP against the Kejriwal Government for the decision to shelve the scheme.

Following an uproar, the assembly had to be adjourned. Following this, the MLAs held a demonstration in front of Mahatama Gandhi’s statue.

“Now, this has escalated into a situation of a deadlock between the DJB and its consumers, in which the consumers are not paying bills and the DJB is not reducing its bills. These bills are increasing with each passing day due to interest, and late payment charges levied by the DJB,” Bharadwaj noted.

“To address this issue, last year when I was the DJB chairman, the DJB passed a scheme to arrange for ‘One-Time Settlement’ so that the consumers could pay a certain amount in a single installment and settle this and initiate new bills from then onwards. Despite this policy being passed by the DJB in June 2023, it was not brought to the cabinet,” he added.

He said that the LG had been approached in this regard and he assured that he would help in resolving the issue.