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24/7 tap water, congestion-free Delhi top priority in next term: Kejriwal
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said making the city traffic congestion-free and clean and supplying drinking water 24x7 through taps will be his top priorities if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power again in the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi.
Addressing his second town hall at Delhi Haat Pitampura, Kejriwal countered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre’s allegation that dirty water was being supplied in the city. The chief minister took a glass of water directly from a tap at Delhi Haat and drank it in front of an audience of around a thousand.
“Aur woh kehte hain paani kharaab hain. Seedhe nal se paani piya hain maine (And they say the water is dirty. I drank this water directly from the tap),” said Kejriwal after gulping down half the glass.
“Yesterday, Amit Shah said the prime minister wants to give 24x7 clean water and Kejriwal wants to take credit. They want to give clean water and we want to provide clean water 24 hours. Then let us come together and work towards it. Once Delhi has 24x7 clean drinking water available, they can take all the credit. I will happy that the work got done,” he said in response to a woman’s question on when the city would start getting continuous clean water.
In the run-up to Assembly polls, chief minister Kejriwal, who is also AAP’s national convener, will address such town hall meetings till January 7 – one in each of Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha constituencies.
On Thursday, a town hall was held in the New Delhi constituency. Assembly elections in Delhi are likely to be held in the second week of February.
Responding to another question on solutions to decongest Delhi, Kejriwal said the odd-even road space rationing drive did not just reduce pollution, but also eased traffic congestion across the national Capital.
He told the audience that the Delhi government was working on a new project to decongest all choke points in the city with tailor-made solutions.
“Roads at various locations in Delhi need to be redesigned, which can bring about a big change in traffic movement. We have designated a consultant to create a list of locations in Delhi where there are daily traffic jams. The designated consultant will provide us with a road map within 9-10 months on how to solve the problem of traffic congestion in these locations. Work on these stretches will being immediately after that,” the chief minister said.
Friday’s town hall started with Kejriwal devoting the first 30 minutes to hear personal anecdotes from people on how they benefitted from various schemes of the Delhi government.
While two elderly talked about the CM’s free pilgrimage scheme, others talked about how they benefited from the free health treatment and the Good Samaritan schemes apart from improvement in government schools.
AAP POLL MANIFESTO BY JANUARY THIRD WEEK
When Vikas Mehra, a resident of Tri Nagar, asked the AAP national convener about the party’s poll manifesto, Kejriwal said they will release it between January 15 and 20.
“The issues that we will target in our next manifesto will be discussed and deliberated with the people. We are creating a list in consideration with the people. Like yesterday, where we discussed cleanliness as an important aspect, we addressed the issue of traffic congestion today. We will continue to discuss and add an issue each day to ensure all important points are covered in our manifesto, which is to be released around January 15-20,” he said.
