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AAP accuses Delhi’s civic bodies of corruption, BJP calls claims ‘misleading’
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led municipal corporations in Delhi (MCD) of corruption, alleging that the civic agencies did not clean the drains in the city despite allotting contracts for the same ahead of monsoon
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led municipal corporations in Delhi (MCD) of corruption, alleging that the civic agencies did not clean the drains in the city despite allotting contracts for the same ahead of monsoon.
The BJP dismissed the allegations and called them “misleading”.
While the AAP is in charge of the city government, the BJP rules the three municipal corporations. Delhi goes to the municipal polls next year.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s head office in central Delhi, AAP’s spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “ The BJP-ruled MCDs have committed corruption in the name of desilting internal drains, not even 5% of the drains in colonies have been cleaned. The north corporation claims to have extracted 9,800 MT of silt and the south MCD 35,000 MT of silt. The fact is no silt has been removed.”
“Water will fill all colonies in monsoon as the drains are full of silt, the rainwater will overflow and flood the main roads as soon as monsoon starts in Delhi. Crores of rupees have been looted in the name of removing silt from drains for which contracts have been awarded,” said Bhardwaj.
Officials from the north corporation were not available for comment.
BJP spokesperson for Delhi Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “The allegations are misleading. Mr Saurabh Bhardwaj has a habit of accusing MCDs to politically malign them. Today, he has raised the drain desilting issue to cover up the failure of the Delhi Jal Board, PWD and the flood department in cleaning major drains. These departments come under the Delhi government.”
“The MCDs have done their task of desilting small drains inside colonies within the deadline of June 30. However, the small drains cannot empty out into the major drains as they have not been cleaned. An inquiry into Delhi Government departments failure to clean the major drains need to be probed,” said Kapoor.
