Delhi polls: Kejriwal promises permanent housing to all govt employees

In a post on X, Kejriwal called on sanitation worker “brothers and sisters” to have their “own house and live with dignity”

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday promised to formulate a scheme to provide government employees, starting with sanitation workers, permanent houses on instalments “where they can stay after they retire”, in a poll promise aimed at canvassing government workers to vote for the party in the Delhi Assembly elections on February 5.

Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference on Sunday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Addressing a press conference, he said: “We will start with the sanitation workers of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and NDMC and later implement it for other government employees as well. A housing scheme will be set up under which land may be provided by the central government and Delhi government will set up the building and houses. They will be able to pay the instalments during their service years to become the house owners and after retirement, they will be able to permanently live there.”

In a post on X, Kejriwal called on sanitation worker “brothers and sisters” to have their “own house and live with dignity”.

Kejriwal also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting the central government to provide land at subsidised rates for the scheme. “These workers form the backbone of the city’s sanitation system. During their employment, they reside in government-provided accommodations. However, post retirement, they are required to vacate these homes. They are unable to purchase their own houses or afford the high rental costs in Delhi, leaving them and their families in a vulnerable position,” he said in the letter.

Reiterating that “land-related matters” in Delhi come under the central government, Kejriwal wrote: “This issue affects all government employees, particularly those in lower-income groups. Hence, I urge you to initiate this scheme for Safai Karamcharis and subsequently extend it to all government employees.”

In the press conference, the AAP chief said that housing is a major issue in Delhi and it had become almost impossible for the poor to buy houses. “After retirement, these sanitation workers don’t have enough money to build a house or pensions to rent a house. I have seen many sanitation workers forced to live in jhuggies,” he said.

Kejriwal said that he hoped that the Prime Minister and the central government would agree to this scheme as it is for the welfare of the poor. “Initially, Safai Karamcharis can benefit from it, and later it can be extended to other government employees. This is an extremely welfare-oriented scheme. The PM had said that Delhi’s welfare schemes should continue. The new welfare schemes should also be introduced,” he said.

So far, the AAP has announced nine promises and guarantees ahead of Delhi polls. These are the “Mahila Samman Yojana” with ₹2,100 per month assistance for women, the Sanjeevani Yojana to provide free health care to senior citizens, a monthly honorarium of ₹18,000 for priests, free bus travel and 50% Metro fare subsidy to students, welfare schemes for auto drivers. Other promises have included Dr Ambedkar Samman Scholarship for students from Dalit communities in pursuing higher education abroad, water bill waiver for “incorrect water bills”, funds for RWA to employ security guards and a scheme for providing 200 units of free electricity and 20,000 litres of free water per month to tenants.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, called it a “lie” and accused Kejriwal of “targeting economically weaker sections and sanitation workers”.

“The central government built flats for EWS in Delhi at a cost of ₹2,415 crore, but in 10 years, the Arvind Kejriwal government has failed to ensure that the benefits of these flats reach the poor. These flats were located in areas such as Girpur, Dwarka, Sultanpuri, Bawana, Bhalswa, Baprola, etc. Although the flats were ready, they were not handed over,” Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said.