Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for “spreading false narratives” over various projects in the Capital, including the Delhi Metro phase-IV and regularisation of unauthorised colonies.
He said that the Delhi government is “creating hurdles” for the metro phase-IV project. “The idea was floated long back by the Centre and the Delhi government took years to approve the phase-IV project. It was sent to us only in January this year, with riders that the State government will not share the operational losses. However, we will go ahead with the project, despite all the hurdles created by Mr. Kejriwal,” Mr. Puri said.
Further, Mr. Puri said, “The ground mapping for unauthorised colonies is supposed to be done by the Delhi government which they have not yet done. Instead of acting on it, Mr. Kejriwal has been fabricating facts and saying that the Centre is not interested. The reality is that they have not even started work on it.”
Citing a letter dated February 14, to the Chief Minister, Mr. Puri said that the Centre had raised the issue with the Delhi government.
“As per a communication dated January 29, the Delhi government has informed that they are yet to finalise the award of contract for fresh study and that may take four months. The study is likely to take two years, which means that the State government is delaying the report continuously and it may go beyond July 2021,” said Mr. Puri.
“Mr. Kejriwal has put an unacceptable situation before us and he keeps issuing advertisements, giving hopes to people without delivering on the promises. Whether it is transport or housing or any other project, we will go ahead with the projects irrespective of the hurdles Mr. Kejriwal puts before us,” added Mr. Puri.