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Hardeep Puri criticises AAP over free bus rides for women, blame game over air pollution
New Delhi
New Delhi
Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri Saturday trained his guns on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, criticizing their recent scheme offering free bus rides to women and accusing them of engaging in a blame game over air pollution.
The AAP hit back, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of being regressive when it comes to women empowerment and apathetic to the health of Delhi residents.
The Union minister said, “Delhi has a sanctioned fleet of 11,000 buses, but the city is still short of 7,000 buses. For our [central government’s] efforts, ridership in Metro has gone up and last-mile connectivity has improved. What has the Delhi government done other than making such public amenities free [for women commuters]? I call that a gimmick. I am not against it per se. But does Delhi have adequate infrastructure for that?”
AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha responded, “In the first month after assuming office, the AAP government had resolved to bring 4,000 more buses in Delhi. It was the BJP which had challenged the resolution before the court and managed to get a stay order issued. For four years, because of the BJP, the matter kept languishing in court and due to our relentless efforts over four years, the stay was finally lifted by the Supreme Court. Now, more than 1,000 buses have been purchased and they have started plying.”
He further said, “The BJP is patently against women empowerment. They believe in confining women within four walls. This is the same party that protests against women wearing t-shirts, jeans and carrying cellphones. This regressive mentality will be judged by women in Delhi ahead of assembly polls.”
Puri further said, “When pollution in the city goes up, they [Delhi government] blame governments of neighbouring states. When it goes down, they take the credit themselves.”
To that, Chadha said, “The BJP government at the Centre is so apathetic towards the respiratory health of people that in the last six years, they did not call any meeting to discuss air pollution. The only party which is alive on the issue, cares about respiratory health and has been undertaking steps to fight air pollution is AAP.”
He further said, “The central government in its own affidavit to the Supreme Court has confessed that stubble burning is the principal reason for air pollution in NCR region. This exposes the hypocrisy and criminal negligence of the BJP.”
