Is CM Arvind Kejriwal doing the best or not in Delhi?
The CAG Audit reports tabled after 4 years have exposed irregularities in the Delhi’s AAP govt. The report tabled in the Delhi Assembly on 5th July 2022, after a delay of four years (partly because of Covid-19 pandemic), completely exposed Kejriwal's claims of ‘revenue surplus’, 'free water’, ‘free electricity and ‘free ladies bus ride’. There is no water in most colonies! People depend on tankers and there is no quality control. Lack of sewerage facilities contaminates groundwater.
Delhi budget is surplus despite freebies because Delhi is UT and not a state. New Delhi being the capital, police, metro construction and major PWD works, govt. pensions etc. are handled by central govt. Recently PM Modi inaugurated Rs 900 plus Crore Pragati Maidan subway and state govt inaugurated a subway near Dhaula Kuan built by state fund. This budget advantage will not be available in Punjab.
Some highlights of CAG report -
- Delhi govt ad spending increased over 4,200% from 2012 to 2022
- The spending has increased from nearly Rs 11.12 crore in 2012-13, when Sheila Dikshit was chief minister, to Rs 488.97 crore in 2021-22 under Arvind Kejriwal.
- From 2015, when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power, the ad spending has increased in four financial years compared to the respective previous FYs and decreased twice — from ₹81.23 crore in 2015-2016 to ₹67.25 crore 2016-2017 and from ₹117.76 crore in 2017-2018 to ₹45.54 crore in 2018-2019.
- In the two COVID-19 pandemic years, the ad expenditure was ₹199.99 crore in 2019-2020 and ₹293.20 crore in 2020-2021
- Seven Delhi government companies have accumulated losses of Rs 31,724 crore
- Losses in Delhi power companies stood at Rs 2,561 crore
- The Delhi transport department incurred a loss of Rs 29,143 crore
- The loss for Delhi Jal Board was Rs 27,660 crore
- Delhi Jal Board's capital assets and grants-in-aid were diverted for other purposes.
- 80 per cent unauthorised colonies were still without piped water supply and that 576 unauthorised colonies were dependent on water tankers. This was a major promise since 2015 election.
The CAG reports refers to the years from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and that were pending with the office of Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, and despite repeated reminders from CAG and letters from the LG House, the state government kept sitting on the reports. The CAG report pertaining to the years 2017-18 to 2020-21 pointed to several irregularities of serious nature in the accounts and finance across various departments and ministries of the Delhi government. Every state PSU is in loss.
Kejriwal did extensive propaganda marketing of bio-decomposer developed by Pusa Institute as if he himself developed it. He wanted to project in media that this is the final solution to early winter Delhi fog which happens post Diwali festival and burning of crop residue (locally called parali) in neighboring states.
As per CAG, Kejriwal govt spent only Rs 68 lakhs in spraying the bio-decomposer solution in select Delhi villages on pilot basis but spent Rs 23 Crore in media ads on bio-decomposer. Only Kejriwal can do this type of propaganda.
Kejriwal can easily blame UP, Haryana and Punjab for the parali related air pollution. Haryana and UP has drastically reduced parali fires in recent years but Punjab farmers continued to do so. Since Punjab is now ruled by AAP, Kejriwal will need to find someone new to blame for early winter air pollution of year 2022. Kejriwal can only send his vast volunteer team across the city with banner poster ‘red light on, vehicle engine off’. That banner will always have a smiling Kejriwal photo as part of propaganda.
Satellite picture shows Punjab farmers defy parali ban
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had recently drunk a glass of water from Kali Bein river on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the cleaning of the river in Sultanpur Lodhi. He had announced the launch of a state-wide campaign to clean rivers and drains in the state. He was rushed to Delhi’s Apollo hospital for stomach ache. Now imagine what will happen to Kejriwal if he drinks Yamuna water in Delhi directly from the river.
Kejriwal promised clean Yamuna river three times but results are in front of everyone.
Yamuna in Delhi gets cleaned to some extent every year in monsoon due to heavy water flow. Flood also happen when water level breaches danger mark. Kejriwal can only blame upstream Haryana’s Hathnikund barrage discharge when flood happens. Similarly, when froth in the river appears post-monsoon season, Kejriwal blames Haryana for the high ammonia content in the river. Kejriwal blames central govt for high prices of petroleum and other essential commodities but doesn’t have any solution except subsidies. Kejriwal blames lack of fund for salaries of sanitation workers, doctors and nurses but spends huge on media ads. Just compare how many times sanitation workers, doctors and nurses etc. went for a strike for prolong non-payment of salary despite being part of govt job in Kejriwal era (2105-2022) with that of Sheila Dikshit era (1998-2013).
Kejriwal, who keeps making grand announcements and spends huge amounts promoting them, actually doesn’t implement most. CAG report pointed to unutilised funds for several critical projects in Delhi. Among the schemes in which funds were underutilised were CM Advocate Welfare Scheme, Nirbhaya Fund, Swachh Bharat Mission, and Regional Rapid Transit System Corridor.
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