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.