Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Saturday wrote a letter to Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena seeking action against three officers, accusing them of deliberately ignoring the instructions of three ministers for calling the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and Army Engineers Regiment to repair the WHO building regulator.
The minister has urged LG to take action against chief secretary Naresh Kumar, divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar and IFC secretary Ashish Kundra.
According to Bharadwaj, the named officers allegedly ignored the directions of the ministers which led to the flooding of VIP areas of Lutyens' Delhi including the Supreme Court.
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In the letter, the minister told LG that there is a WhatsApp group called ‘Delhi Flood Control 2023’ and the members include him, minister Atishi and the three officers. Bharadwaj claimed he sent a message to divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar on the night of July 13 on the group explaining the need to call NDRF. His cabinet colleague Atishi is also said to have suggested for calling the Engineering Wing of the NDRF or Engineering Regiment of Army.
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Bharadwaj shared a series of messages reportedly exchanged on the group on that night in his letter.
“I felt so sad because this situation could have been avoided had the officers like CS Mr. Naresh Kumar, Principal Secretary (I&FC) Mr. Ashish Kundra followed the directions of two ministers to call Engineers' Regiment of Army and NDRF at appropriate time of preceding night only”, Bharadwaj wrote.
Calling the two officers' conduct ‘beyond the definition of insubordination and deriliction of duty, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said,"These acts are not the acts of negligence; these acts appear to be deliberate acts to allow the flooding of sensitive VIP areas of Lutyens' Delhi. This was the conspiracy to embarrass the top court of the country".
“I felt so sad because this situation could have been avoided had the officers like CS Mr. Naresh Kumar, Principal Secretary (I&FC) Mr. Ashish Kundra followed the directions of two ministers to call Engineers' Regiment of Army and NDRF at appropriate time of preceding night only”, Bharadwaj wrote.
Calling the two officers' conduct ‘beyond the definition of insubordination and deriliction of duty, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said,"These acts are not the acts of negligence; these acts appear to be deliberate acts to allow the flooding of sensitive VIP areas of Lutyens' Delhi. This was the conspiracy to embarrass the top court of the country".
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