The
BJP- led coalition at the Centre could not stand a Congress government
in Delhi walking away with all the laurels. There could not be any
other reason for the lack of co-operation which I have experienced.
For the Ministries of Urban Development, Environment and Home Affairs,
Delhi is one of their many responsibilities and so cannot claim much
attention. I have repeatedly written to the Centre drawing its
attention to various problems and suggesting measures which could be
taken. But except sending me acknowledgements of my communications, no
follow-up step has ever been taken" said Delhi’s Chief Minister, Mrs.
Sheila Dikshit.
"But the Delhi Government represents the people and
is answerable to them. My greatest demand in the coming elections is
going to be that Delhi gets statehood. Unless that happens, the
situation cannot change. In fact, hoping that a bill conferring this
status on the Capital would be introduced in Parliament, we have
furnished all the needed information regarding this demand. But so
far, the Centre has not done anything. The biggest joke on democracy
in Delhi is that a duly elected government here cannot plan its own
city. I am not even a member of the Delhi Development Authority’s
Planning Board. The DDA is under the Central Government and so far as
the Central Government is concerned, Delhi does not seem to matter to
them.
"We wanted to prevent the pollution of the Yamuna.
Dangerous chemical effluents flow into the river both from Haryana and
Delhi. The Yamuna Action Plan and the Ganga Action Plan are there.
Both these agencies are under the Urban Development Ministry of the
Central Government. If these agencies had been under the Delhi
Government, things could have been different. Every year, people could
be involved in shramdan for cleaning the river. On our own we have
provided shields of wire meshes on both sides of the bridges over the
Yamuna so that people are not able to throw muck into the river. Many
more things could be done. But such things are possible only with
coordination at various levels. When there is multiplicity of
authority, this does not happen.
"Nevertheless, we have been able to bring about
improvements in many areas: the quality of air is better because we
have checked pollution. Our exceptional achievements include the use
of CNG; 65,000 vehicles in Delhi are now running on gas and causing no
pollution. Our contribution in this regard has been internationally
recognised. We have been given a special award for this by America.
There is no other city in the world where such a large number of
vehicles have been converted to the CNG system in such a short time.
We have made the Metro system a reality whereas in the past it
remained only on drawing boards. Nobody took the decision on it
earlier. We took the decision and went ahead with it. As many as 42
flyovers will be completely operational in Delhi by the time we go to
the polls later this year. Flyovers are not only of great use to
people, they are unique, beautiful and have only enhanced the
reputation of India’s capital. We have been an action-oriented
government regardless of whatever the BJP might say now out of pique
or jealousy.
Contrary to the general impression, Delhi is not
facing shortage of power, said the Chief Minister and, in support of
her claim, mentioned these facts: " We have already tied up 3,400 MW
of power. It is only a question of faulty supply lines, which are
creating the problem. The private companies which we have engaged to
handle the situation have still not been able to get their act
together. They need time to rectify the faults and put the entire
system in a position where there are no complaints. Before the
temperature shot up recently, there was no power problem. Now
breakdowns are occurring mostly in colonies where old problems of
theft of cables or failure of cables to function when transmission is
of very high order are there. These are not serious problems and will
be overcome soon. Already, we have put up a three-tier system to deal
with power shortages. Ministers have been made in charge of different
areas to ensure that response is quick wherever there is a breakdown.
We have call centres working round-the-clock. We have grievance cells
which operate day and night. Wherever there is more than two hours’
power cut, explanation is asked for. Now that we have privatised the
distribution system, the situation will improve gradually. If you ask
how long will it take, it may take a couple of years more provided the
problem is attended to with the same zeal and determination as is
happening now. In water also, we have added 20 million gallons a day
to meet the summer requirements of people in Delhi. We hope to add on
140 million gallons by January/February next year.
"Through the Bhagidari system we have tried to
involve people in government because ours is a democratically elected
government which functions through partnership of people. Every year
five to six lakh people come to Delhi in search of jobs. They start
living in slums where living conditions are often sub-human. Although
they are all useful to people in Delhi, for they provide workforce for
domestic and other purposes, what does Delhi do for them? Even for the
jhuggis and jhonpris they build sometimes they have to pay Rs. 1,000
per month each family to land sharks. It is the responsibility of the
DDA to do something for them. But being under the Central Government,
this agency does not feel any responsibility for them. If we want to
do something for them, we are hampered and hindered. With no
responsibility to shoulder for the people who suffer, no wonder DDA
starts indulging in rackets, one of which recently came to light and
shocked everybody (she was referring to the alleged involvement of DDA
vice-chairman in huge land deals which surfaced following his arrest
last month).
"Nobody can fail to notice the changing landscape
of Delhi," said Mrs. Dikshit and added: "For facilitating fast
movement of traffic across busy crossings, flyovers have been built in
large numbers and many more are under construction; for the extension
of the underground Metro railway, which is already running from
Shahdara to Tis Hazari Courts, work is going on at a feverish pace;
the public transport system which was mainly responsible for raising
the level of pollution has improved considerably with the induction of
buses running on Compressed Natural Gas instead of petrol or diesel.
All this has happened under Congress rule. But Madanlal Khurana and
other BJP leaders are claiming credit for it without any
justification. Of course the plans were there for the flyovers and
Metro before I assumed office. But they had been gathering dust in the
files without anyone bothering to look into them. The Congress
Government is responsible for all the improvement that you see now.
To her chagrin, now that the elections are coming,
the BJP wants to take the credit for everything. They are claiming
credit even for the two-language, three-language formula in Delhi now.
She said: "The BJP has a wonderful style of jumping into things and
claiming credit from others. What they have done in appointing Khurana
as chairman of the Metro Board is against all parliamentary norms.
Normally, the head of the Metro Board should have been the Secretary
of the Urban Development Ministry. No member of Parliament can head a
committee, which comprises office of profit. The Government has taken
a wrong step, a totally, wholly unethical step. In fact, I wrote a
strong letter to the Prime Minister protesting against this move which
had been motivated only to grab credit somehow. But all that he has
done is to send me an acknowledgement of my communication
Talking about illegal colonies, she said: "If you
want to destroy Sainik Farms, have the courage to do so. But no one
seems willing for this course. Actually, the fact is how can you
destroy a property which you first allowed to be built. When Sainik
Farms was being built, everybody was turning a Nelson’s eye towards
it. In any case, although it was built illegally, there cannot be a
strong case for its destruction now especially when Anant Ram dairy
built illegally is being allowed to grow (she was drawing attention to
the BJP stake in the dairy). There should be uniformity in government
policies. You can’t discriminate. But when there are many other
illegal constructions all over Delhi, why talk of Sainik Farms alone.
Illegal constructions came up with the connivance of the police and
politicians and all those who officially ought to have raised
objections. The DDA is a law unto itself. The agency is often willing
to do whatever suits the interests of officials heading its various
departments or its political bosses.
What do you think will be the most formidable
challenge in the coming Assembly elections? Answering this question,
she said : "It will of course be the BJP. But what issues they are
going to raise is still not clear. Khurana calls me the most corrupt
chief minister. I have written him to give even a single instance of a
corruption case against me. He has not replied despite reminders. He
has often been levelling accusations against my government that there
is no "bijli, pani " in Delhi. But whenever he has launched dharnas,
he has not been able to muster the support of more than 20 to 30
people. Obviously, people are not with him.
Why should people vote for you especially when you
have failed to solve the problems of water and power which are
becoming worse day by day? Replying to this question, Mrs. Dikshit
said: "As for the first part of your question, it is rather
embarrassing for me to answer. It is for the people to judge the
performance of my government and then decide whether they should vote
for me or not. We will ask for the vote of the people on the basis of
what we have done and what we need to do in future provided we get the
mandate to rule again. When my party and I will go to the voter, we’ll
go with our heads held high. So far we can say with pride that we have
worked hard, worked with sincerity, we have given no cause to anyone
to believe that this is a corrupt government.
"But I would like you to remember that Delhi
annually attracts a large number of people coming here to seek their
fortune. With such an influx, no wonder existing, available resources
get stretched to the maximum. In such a situation, there is bound to
be a slip here or there. It is not an easy problem to handle. I have
not mentioned it to look for excuses. It is only to tell you what the
reality is". She said the BJP is spreading a canard that slum-dwellers
are being denied ration cards."