AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj
The AAP today accused the Congress-led UPA government of conceiving the controversial south Delhi colonies redevelopment project in 2006, caught in an eye of the storm over proposed felling of nearly 17,000 trees. Modi government has only “repackaged” the project, it originally belongs to the Congress-led UPA government, alleged AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj today.
AAP hurled the allegations hours after a tweet by the Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP and the AAP today over proposed felling of trees in the national capital for the project. “In Delhi, the BJP with AAP’s approval has hacked down thousands of trees in the past 4 years for development,” Gandhi had tweeted.
In Delhi, the BJP with AAP’s approval has hacked down thousands of trees in the past 4 yrs for “development”.
Even children know that trees are critical to our survival & difficult to replace.
Stand with the Congress & together let’s fight this madness. #BJPAAPChokeDelhi
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 28, 2018
Following the tweet, Bhardwaj also accused erstwhile Urban Development Minister Ajay Maken of “betraying” Gandhi by not apprising him of the “origin” of the project, resulting in his tweet on the controversial issue.
Showing a purported environmental assessment report on the redevelopment of Netaji Nagar, he said it was “overlooked” by the Urban Development ministry, headed by Ajay Maken in 2006.
“Ajay Maken has betrayed his party president Rahul Gandhi by keeping mum over the issue. This information that the report of NBCC was overlooked by Ajay Maken’s ministry in 2006 was hidden from Rahul Gandhi, otherwise, he would not have tweeted today,” said Bhardwaj.
The redevelopment project for seven south Delhi colonies has triggered widespread protest by locals who have launched a “Chipko” movement on the lines of one conceived by Sunderlal Bahuguna in 1973 for today’s Uttrakhand, to save trees from saws to make way for building residential and commercial complexes.
The BJP, meanwhile, alleged that the AAP government has “failed” to carry out the compensatory plantation of 39,550 trees at Narouji Nagar and Netaji Nagar colonies that are part of the redevelopment project,
“Notification was issued on November 15, 2017 for planting 14,650 trees at Narouji Nagar complex. A compensatory plantation of 24,900 trees at Netaji Nagar Complex was to be done as per the notification issued on April 23, 2018. These notifications were issued by the Environment Department of Delhi government but it failed to do so,” alleged BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta.
The notifications also mentioned that the Environment Department was paid Rs 8.35 crores for Narouji Nagar and Rs 14.19 crores for Netaji Nagar for compensatory plantation and for its maintenance for seven years, he claimed.