Central govt did substantial work for Delhi, AAP failed to deliver: Hardeep Singh Puri

Puri said that infrastructure works worth ₹54,000 crore were sanctioned for Delhi by the ministry, including the Delhi Metro rail and the Delhi-Meerut RRTS projects, in the past 10 years. He said another tranche, of ₹65,000 crore, was spent on roadwork by the ministry of road transport and highways to improve connectivity in Delhi-NCR

The Narendra Modi government worked substantially to develop Delhi in the past 10 years while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government failed to deliver on its promises, union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a poll pitch on Wednesday.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri addresses a press conference in the run-up to the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. (PTI)

All the seven seats of the national capital are set to go to polls on May 25 in the sixth and penultimate phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Puri, who holds the portfolio of the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), said at a press conference that infrastructure works worth ₹54,000 crore were sanctioned for Delhi by the ministry, including the Delhi Metro rail and the Delhi-Meerut RRTS projects, in the past 10 years. He said another tranche, of ₹65,000 crore, was spent on roadwork by the ministry of road transport and highways to improve connectivity in Delhi-NCR.

“We have not left any stone unturned to develop Delhi,” Puri said.

He said that more will be done in the next five years, hinting at his confidence in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government at the Centre for a third consecutive term.

On the contentious issue of regularising unauthorised colonies in Delhi, Puri said he is “personally committed to the cause”. He said the issue will be resolved within the next five years, acknowledging delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We will regularise them with a very small conversion fee and their land values will go up. To all the people living in unauthorised colonies, I only appeal: don’t get discouraged by AAP, they deliberately did not act for the regularisation,” Puri said, claiming credit for the Prime Minister-Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY) scheme, which was launched in December 2019.

“My daughter was getting married, but I still went to spearhead that Bill (now National Capital Territory of Delhi Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies Act) in Parliament,” Puri said.

He said that so far, 121,214 applications were processed of the total 121,550 applications that were submitted. “We want people to apply more and our scheme is open. This was initially open till December of 2023, but we extended it,” he said.

The union minister also said that the Delhi government has not submitted a plan to develop housing units under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme. However, 29,976 beneficiaries availed of ₹692.53 crore under home loan subsidies, as part of the discontinued Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).

Puri went on to attack the AAP over a host of other issues, including the alleged assault of Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, claiming mismanagement by the AAP administration over a dip in the city’s water supply, among others.

Puri also accused the AAP government of creating “barriers at every stage” for the development of the Metro rail network.

AAP quote to be added