Delhi LG hails AAP govt for e-buses, stable power tariffs in speech

The 26-minute speech by Saxena was interrupted at least 10 times by BJP MLAs following which seven of them were marshalled out of the House.

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena outlined the important policies, programmes, and work done by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government in the fields of education, health, transport, social welfare, and infrastructure on the first day of the Delhi budget session at Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.

Delhi LG VK Saxena with speaker Ram Niwas Goel and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The 26-minute speech by Saxena was interrupted at least 10 times by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs following which speaker Ram Niwas Goel had seven of them marshalled out of the House.

To be sure, as part of the established parliamentary convention, the LG reads the speech prepared by the elected government to open the first session of the assembly in the new year.

The speech alluded to the government’s achievements in power supply and public transport and said that electricity rates have not been increased in the last eight years while the tariff has remained the lowest among all neighbouring states.

Speaking of public transport in the city, Saxena said more than 7,100 buses are servicing 500 routes, including 1,650 electric buses.

“Delhi has pioneered free travel for women in government buses, surpassing one billion free trips,” the LG said.

Saxena said that the Capital has achieved remarkable milestones across various socioeconomic sectors over the last few years under the AAP. “The growth matrices of the important sectors of the economy have been quite satisfactory during the recent past. The economy of Delhi witnessed a real GSDP expansion of 9.18% in 2022-23 as compared to a growth of 7.2% in GDP at the national level. Per capita income of Delhi has been 2.6 times higher than the national average and the revenue is consistently surplus,” the LG said in his speech.

Meanwhile, leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the entire speech by the LG was “a bundle of lies”. “The speech of the LG was prepared by the AAP government which has failed on every front,” said Bidhuri.