Delhi govt, L-G office lock horns over Chinese manja

NEW DELHI: Three innocent lives were lost in accidents involving Chinese manja this independence day but the authorities on Wednesday continued to pass the buck

NEW DELHI: Three innocent lives were lost in accidents involving Chinese manja this independence day but the authorities on Wednesday continued to pass the buck over the delay in the ban.

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The Delhi government accused the lieutenant governor’ s office and the environment secretary of delaying the draft notification. The L-G secretariat on the other asked if the draft notification was enough to ban kite threads coated with glass and metal coated immediately, as is being claimed by the government.

The LG office said it sought an explanation from environment secretary Chandraker Bharti after deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia demanded action against the officer for the delay in issuing the draft notification banning the sale and production of glass-coated thread in Delhi.

Addressing a press conference with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia said the file tracking note shows the Chinese manja file was with Jung for four days and the environment secretary for seven days. “Our environment minister had cleared the file from the hospital on August 5 as he and his wife were diagnosed with dengue. The file was then sent to the L-G office. On August 9, the L-G gave his nod,” said Sisodia.

“The file tracking note shows that it was cleared from my office within 20 seconds on August 9. The chief secretary office also cleared the file the same day. The file was with the environment secretary since August 10. L-G needs to clarify why the delay,” he added. But the L-G office said it had received the file from the government on August 8, and not August 5 as being claimed by Sisodia, and sent it back to his office on August 9.

“Notice is hereby given that the said draft will be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of sixty days from the date on which copies of the Delhi Gazette containing this notification are made available to the public together with any objections or suggestions that may be received in respect thereto within the stipulated period,” the statement reads.