Delhi Minister accuses officials of neglect in waterlogging crisis
Jul 29, 2024
New Delhi [India], July 29 :Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has called out the lack of action by senior officials in response to the waterlogging crisis amid a huge uproar in the country over the death of three students at a coaching institute in Rajendra Nagar.
"On February 6, I issued the first notice to convene a meeting of all senior officials, including the Commissioner of the MCD, to discuss de-silting measures to prevent waterlogging," Bharadwaj said during a press conference.
"I ordered a comprehensive strategy from all departments. Surprisingly, despite calling numerous IAS officers, including Naresh Kumar, none attended the meeting. This reflects the lack of seriousness towards the issue," he said.
Slamming the Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for politicising the issue, Bharadwaj said, "When the LG went to Old Rajinder Nagar, slogans were raised against him, and the students rejected him. In such a sensitive matter, he should not have used the situation for political gains. There are numerous murders and police matters directly under the LG's jurisdiction, but he has never shown up for those. His visit here seemed like an attempt to do politics rather than address the real issues".
Earlier, AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of conspiring with the LG and assured action in the matter. "It is a very unfortunate incident. Many coaching centres are running libraries and classes in their basements illegally. Action will be taken against the officials who are involved in it. The officials are not working, and it is the responsibility of the LG of Delhi to take action against them," Singh said.
Amid ongoing protests in the national capital over the deaths of three students, MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar addressed the situation, stating, "This is a very sad incident...We will demolish all the encroachments there in that area and will recover the drainage system there...The other action taken in this incident is, that all the basements which are illegal or coaching centres are running there, we are taking action against them...The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has terminated a Junior Engineer and suspended an assistant engineer and seeks an explanation from the concerned Executive Engineer..."
