Eye on polls, Kejriwal lists Delhi govt’s achievements over 7 years

Experts, however, pointed out many areas, such as air pollution and cleaning of the river Yamuna, need concerted focus by the government

The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has completed two years of its third consecutive term in power in Delhi, completing seven years of governance, as it seeks to expand its base in Punjab, a state where it is the main opposition, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa -- the states where assembly elections are being held.

The chief minister highlighted his party’s achievements over seven years of governance in the national capital in his message. (ANI)

The reforms in education, water and power sectors in Delhi form the AAP’s main poll pitch in the four states where the party has been promising better schools, and subsidised power and water.

In a message on the occasion, Delhi chief minister and national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government’s progressive agenda has been resonating in all corners of the country. “Following in the footsteps of Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar and Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, the Delhi government has taken numerous steps towards the development of the city in the last seven years. Now, every child in Delhi receives world-class education free. The reverberations of the educational revolution is reaching the country and beyond. Along with education, electricity, water, and healthcare are provided at no cost to all Delhi residents, and by abolishing caste and religious distinctions, the Delhi government is allowing everyone to progress,” Kejriwal said in a statement.

The AAP, born out of the anti-corruption movement in 2011 led by Anna Hazare, contested its first assembly elections in Delhi in 2013, winning 28 of the total 70 seats, and formed the government with outside support from the Congress. However, differences soon emerged among the two parties, and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal resigned in February 2014 after 49 days in power.

However, in 2015 assembly elections -- that took place after almost a year of President’s rule -- the AAP returned to power with an unprecedented majority of 67 seats in the 70-member house. It almost repeated the feat in 2020, winning 62 seats. The party consistently campaigned promising better schools, free and improved education,free water up to 20kilolitres each month to every household, and subsidised power up to 400 units, with the first 200 provided free.

The chief minister highlighted his party’s achievements over seven years of governance in the national capital in his message. However, experts pointed out many areas need concerted focus by the government such as air pollution and cleaning of the river Yamuna.

Education

Ever since it came to power in Delhi, the AAP has consistently allocated the maximum share of the state’s budget for education. In his message, Kejriwal said his government built more than 20,000 new classrooms, and launched new curriculums to teach new skills to students. “We provided government schools with world-class infrastructure and over 20,000 new classrooms. Teachers were sent abroad for training. Happiness classes in our schools help relieve children’s stress. To promote entrepreneurship, we began the Business Blasters programme with Entrepreneurship courses and the promotion of Startups. Along with this, Deshbhakti Curriculum was started to inculcate the feeling of patriotism in the children,” Kejriwal said.

Experts hailed the Delhi government’s initiatives in the field of education.

Ameeta M Wattal, chairperson DLF schools, training and scholarships and former principal Springdales School, said the state government has done phenomenal work, and has completely transformed government schools. “From transforming their schools through top quality infrastructure, innovative pedagogies, intensive teacher training initiatives, the government has done phenomenal work. Their board of education is being supported by the best practice models of international baccalaureate, a 21st century curriculum has been created which is being incorporated in classrooms, the schools of excellence are being used as pilots so that the entire learning process can achieve scalability. The students have developed great self-esteem and pride in studying in government schools,” she said.

Health

Kejriwal said before 2015, when the AAP came to power with full majority, the primary healthcare system in the capital was in a disarray. “We provided each resident with a three-tier health security circle consisting of Mohalla Clinics, polyclinics, and government hospitals. We currently spend 16% of our budget on health, compared to an average of 5% in the rest of the country. In the last five years, our government has added 1,600 hospital beds. In the coming days, Delhi will become the country’s only state with a cloud-based health management system,” Kejriwal said.

Water

The Delhi government provides ‘lifeline water supply’ -- 20kilolitres free to each household. Kejriwal said his government has connected over 700 unauthorised colonies with sewerage network and provided water connections in 1600 other colonies. “Prior to 2015, only 54% of unauthorised colonies were linked to the pipeline. Now 14.5 lakh Delhi residents do not have to worry about paying their water bills because their water bill is zero every month,” said Kejriwal.

Yamuna cleaning

The government has announced a six-point action plan to clean the Yamuna by February 2025. The Delhi stretch of the Yamuna continues to be heavily polluted, with industrial effluents from the neighbouring Haryana making it even unfit for treatment by Delhi Jal Board plants. Kejriwal said his government intends to meet the 2025 deadline for a clean Yamuna and mentioned enhancement of sewage treatment and construction of reservoirs as some of the steps that his government plans to take.

Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, however, said the plans are only as good as their implementation. “The AAP government’s Yamuna cleaning exercise echoes with plans made and executed for cleaning Yamuna and other rivers in past,” Misra said.

“All past experience and reports suggest badly executed projects and poor to extremely poor maintenance of created assets, if any. We keep our fingers crossed over any such plans actually resulting in rejuvenation of the Yamuna,” he added.

Power

Kejriwal said that Delhi government is providing free electricity to Delhi without increasing tariffs in the last six years. Delhi residents are provided free electricity for up to 200 units per month and a subsidy of ₹800 for consumption of units between 201 and 400.

Residents, however, pointed out that though tarrif structure has remain unchanged, fixed charges have gone up. BS Vohra, president, federation of east Delhi RWAs, said, “No doubt the condition of electricity has improved a lot in Delhi in the last seven years. Outages are negligible and direct tariff hike is also negligible. But DERC has increased fixed charges by 6 to 10 times. We don’t prefer free electricity as it just creates vote banks. The amount being given as subsidy on account of free electricity can be used to create better health infrastructure to save precious human lives in Delhi government hospitals,” said Vohra.

Air pollution

Delhi continues to struggle with hazardous levels of air pollution every year during winters when a combination of factors such as stubble burning in the neighbouring states, local emissions from vehicles, waste burning and meteorological factors such as low temperatures and poor wind speed leave the city residents gasping for breath.

Kejriwal said his government has taken several steps as a result of which pollution in Delhi has gone down by 25%.

Experts have called for coordinated efforts by the governments in the NCR states, and treat the region as one airshed for finding a lasting solution to the air pollution issue. They have also demanded dynamic implementation of graded response action plan measures based on air quality and weather forecasts.