Sisodia's allegations on L-G for halting Clean Yamuna project are "blatant lies" says Raj Niwas officials

New Delhi [India], January 20 : A Raj Niwas official on Thursday termed the allegations of Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia "habitual blatant lies" and said that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has exposed the Aam Aadmi Party's "contemptuous" neglect of the Supreme Court and river Yamuna.
"The statements of Deputy CM are nothing but habitual blatant lies aimed at protecting his Government's abject incompetence and failure, now that the NGT has exposed their contemptuous neglect of Supreme court and Yamuna," the Raj Niwas official said.
The official also stressed that Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena took over seven months ago and since then he has taken "concrete steps" whose results are evident via the Najafgarh Drain and Yamuna.
"The current L-G took over 7 months back and has since then taken concrete steps that have visibly started showing results in Najafgarh Drain and Yamuna," the official said mentioning that Sisodia cited specific instances when Saxena tried and stopped the work of cleaning Yamuna.
"The DCM should have cited specific instances of LG stopping works of cleaning Yamuna. But, he did not, because nothing of this sort ever happened. He is lying through the teeth blatantly to cover his failure, which is their characteristic style. DCM should do better," the official continued.
The said remarks have been made against the backdrop of Manish Sisodia's allegations in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday when he said-- "The LG made every possible effort to stop the work of cleaning the Yamuna by putting pressure on the officers"-- while presenting the Supplementary Demand for Chhath Ghats and project River Yamuna.
While presenting the proposal, Sisodia said, "The LG made every possible effort to stop the work of cleaning the Yamuna by putting pressure on the officers. Despite the budget being approved by the House, the works of the Delhi Jal Board were stopped. They tried to stop the projects earlier. When the projects did not stop, they stopped the funds, but the work of cleaning Yamuna is still on."
However, the assembly yesterday approved the supplementary grant of Rs 1,028 crore for the project of cleaning the river Yamuna and Delhi Jal Board in the national capital.
"To ensure the cleaning of the Yamuna in the stipulated time, an additional fund of Rs 1028 crore is being given to the Delhi Jal Board to expedite the work of cleaning the Yamuna. CM Arvind Kejriwal has said that Yamuna will be cleaned before the next elections at any cost. The Delhi government is working on a war footing in this direction. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself is keeping a close watch on the work of cleaning drainage and sewage treatment plants in Delhi," Sisodia had said.
Besides the additional grant for cleaning Yamuna, to increase the pace of progress of Delhi and expedite the works of public interest, the Delhi Assembly has also given an additional fund of Rs 100 crore in the Mukhyamantri Sadak Yojana for the year 2022-23, Rs 49 crores for trans-Yamuna area work, about 800 crores additional funds to PWD for road maintenance, construction of additional classrooms, re-modelling of hospitals etc., and Rs 75 crores for irrigation and flood control department.
The house also approved the supplementary grant of Rs 8 crore for Chhath Ghats, an additional amount of Rs 25 crore for giving Rs 1 crore honorarium to the ones who made supreme sacrifice, an additional Rs 50 crore for Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana, Rs 75 crore for SCST Welfare, 50 crores for DGHS, Rs 364 crores for hospital fund, Rs 78 crores for higher education, Rs 199 crores for Samagr Shiksha, Rs 130 crores for the uniform subsidy, Rs 114 crores for mid-day meal scheme, Rs 60 crores for the law department, Rs 10 crore under the government's scheme for the betterment of lawyers and Rs 311 crores for various works of Delhi High Court and Civil Court.