AAP question’s LG, BJP ‘silence’ on Ghazipur drowning deaths, seeks action on DDA officials

Gopal Rai called for punitive action against officials of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and said compensation should be provided to the family of the victims

New Delhi

The spot where the incident took place. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

In a series of press conferences on Friday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned the “silence” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the central government on the deaths by drowning of a woman and her child in an open drain at Ghazipur, east Delhi, during extreme rainfall in the Capital on Wednesday night.

However, the office of the lieutenant governor of Delhi said the incident took place due to the inaction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), as the deaths took place in its part of the drain, effectively refuting allegations that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was responsible for the incident.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said it needs to be inquired as to which civic agency is responsible for leaving the drain un-barricaded and the agency officials should be prosecuted. He said that it was shocking to see the “vulture kind behaviour of AAP leaders including minister Gopal Rai” over the two drowning deaths in Delhi.

A 22-year-old woman and her three-year-old son died after they fell into the Ghazipur drain near Khoda Colony. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) alleged that the part of the drain where the incident took place was under the jurisdiction of DDA, which, in return, alleged that the drain was under MCD’s jurisdiction.

AAP’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai accused the BJP of remaining silent on issues where Delhi Police, DDA, central agencies and MPs are involved.

Rai called for punitive action against officials of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and said compensation should be provided to the family of the victims. Rai said the AAP will hold a protest outside LG VK Saxena’s house on Saturday, demanding the same.

LG Saxena’s office, in a statement, said that 1,000 metres of the total length of 1,350 metres of the drain was handed over to the MCD on April 17, 2023. The DDA desilted its portion of the drain recently and covered its 350-metre section with RCC slabs and installed a steel screen at the MCD-DDA junction of the drain to block garbage flow, the statement said.

“The bodies were recovered at the junction point of MCD and DDA drain, where steel screen was placed by DDA to prevent garbage flow. This point is about 500 metres downstream from the Golden Palace. The 1,000-metre-long drain in MCD’s jurisdiction is uncovered and has not been desilted,” the statement said.

Calling the AAP’s blame game “unfortunate”, the statement added: “Ten years of deliberate inaction, lack of development and worsening of civic infrastructure and services in Delhi at every level, glossed over by rhetoric and hype generated through advertisements, is now getting exposed and becoming visible to the people of Delhi. It is obvious that to escape blame and accountability they have scaled up their old game of finding alibis for their failures.”

In response to the LG office’s statement, the AAP said: “The LG is taking a stand similar to that of Delhi Police who squabbled over jurisdiction with the UP Police rather than assisting with the search and rescue operations... The drain which falls under the jurisdiction of MCD, being recently transferred to EDMC by the DDA, ends 25-30 metres away from the accident spot. The drain maintained by DDA is at the entrance of the market, covered by RCC slabs, had an open manhole in which the child and the mother fell...The RCC slabs were then removed with the help of the JCBs subsequent to which the bodies were recovered, also from the portion which falls under DDA.”

Rai said that a preliminary probe found that the drain belonged to DDA. “We will not let them escape from this negligence. LG should immediately take action against DDA officials whose negligence has led to the deaths. BJP should break its silence on this matter...AAP-led Delhi government’s powers have been taken away but the government is still standing with the people of Delhi. However, there is no accountability from LG and BJP,” he said.

Kondli assembly MLA, Kuldeep Kumar, under whose jurisdiction the area falls, said: “A family has been destroyed but BJP is silent because the drain belonged to DDA. Action has to be taken against DDA. LG should suspend the officials who were in charge of the area. If slabs were kept on the drain, these two lives could have been saved.”

AAP MLA from Timarpur and chief whip of AAP Dilip Pandey, in a letter to LG VK Saxena on Friday, said: “We live in national capital where such incidents should be dealt with very strictly so that no such events happen in future. Unfortunately, no action has been taken on the officials... gives wrong message to bureaucracy. I urge LG, who is also chairman of DDA, to take action immediately and suspend the officers concerned.”

MCD issued a statement on Thursday alleging that the part of the drain where the incident took place was under maintenance by the DDA. “An incident occurred... in which a lady and her child... fell in an under-construction DDA drain near Ambedkar Gate of Khora Colony… The road and drain where incident took place is under construction by DDA (DDA jurisdiction),” MCD said.

In response, DDA stated that the total length of the drain is 1.35km, of which 1km, along with the adjoining road, was handed over to MCD a “considerable time ago”. The remaining 350m of the drain, DDA said, is under its jurisdiction.