Not a single woman he had spoken to during a padayatra here on Saturday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed, was unhappy with the Aam Aadmi Party government’s proposal to provide free access to public transport to women commuters.
Foot march
Mr. Kejriwal made the claim during a public address at the conclusion of his foot march at South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar Assembly constituency where he interacted with local residents, some of whom complained about power outages. “The scheme will be rolled out within two-and-a-half months. I have talked to each and every woman here and nobody said she is not happy with free travel in metro and bus,” he claimed.
Mr. Kejriwal also issued directions regarding the installation of an adequate number of transformers in the area to prevent any further distribution problems. “Delhi is the only city in the country that offers 24-hour power supply to all its residents; there are some pockets in the city that are facing issues related to power and water supply,” he said.
“New transformers will be installed in areas where faults have been observed. We have already laid water pipelines in many colonies. These colonies will get piped water within a week. They will not have to rely on tankers any longer,” he said further.
Health scheme
On the NDA-led Central government’s insistence on implementing the Ayushman Bharat welfare scheme in Delhi, Mr. Kejriwal reiterated that the Delhi government’s own umbrella health scheme was better.
“According to the Centre’s scheme, if you have a refrigerator, a two-wheeler or a television, you are not considered poor. Does this mean the rest of the people are not poor? Is it necessary that one who owns a two-wheeler can afford healthcare for all the members of his/her family? Our scheme provides full treatment for free for all residents of Delhi and has been functioning well for the past two years,” he said.