Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva and senior party leader Sardar Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday questioned the preparation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to face waterlogging caused by rain in the national capital and demanded an all-party meeting on the issue within 24 hours.
Sachdeva alleged, “Scams are happening in the name of cleaning drains in Delhi. The government should either call an all-party meeting within 24 hours on the preparedness for monsoon or be ready to face BJP’s protest.”
Addressing a joint press conference here, the senior BJP leaders alleged that the rain on Tuesday once again exposed the shortcomings of the AAP government in Delhi.
During the press conference, Praveen Shankar Kapoor showed video clips of waterlogging at several areas in Delhi and asked how even light rain could make matters worse for Delhi.
He pointed out that the area around the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) headquarters also faced water logging issues.
Sachdeva alleged that large amounts of funds are being squandered in the name of cleaning drains by the Delhi government’s Jal Board, Public Works Department, Flood Department, and Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
He said Delhi Minister Atishi and Mayor Shelly Oberoi were constantly claiming that the city was prepared for rain, but all their claims proved hollow by just a few minutes of rain.
He pointed out that areas like ITO, Sangam Vihar, Burari, Deoli, Kishanganj, Chanderawal, Rajendra Nagar, and Najafgarh had experienced waterlogging on June 28 and July 3, once again faced the same issue on Tuesday after a few minutes of rain.
The Delhi BJP president added that if work had been done honestly, the city would not have been in such a dire situation today.
He said out of the 750 drains, only 150 have been cleaned. What’s more, the silt removed from the drains was not lifted allowing it to flow back into the drains after the rain, Sachdeva added.
Sardar Arvinder Singh Lovely said Delhi has become a city where residents suffer year-round with water shortages in summer, waterlogging during rains, and pollution in winter.
He hit out at Delhi Minster Atishi and Mayor Shelly Oberoi, saying if they had spent as much time working as they did holding press conferences, the situation might have been better today.
He further said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in jail today, and they keep claiming that he is running the government from jail. The crucial and powerful Apex Committee of the Flood Department, which he chairs, has not held its meeting on time this year in January, he claimed.
Lovely stated that the high-level committee meeting to prevent waterlogging in the city should be held in January, but this year, it was held in mid-June. If the meeting is held in June, what kind of preparations can be expected for July’s waterlogging, he questioned, calling it a matter of concern.