Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal speaks as Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia looks on during a press conference organised to release the party manifesto ahead of upcoming MCD polls, in New Delhi. (Express)Making the city clean and clearing the three landfills in the city were right at the top of the Aam Aadmi Party’s list of ten ‘guarantees’ that party convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced ahead of the MCD polls.
“These are 10 guarantees. Last time, the guarantees that we gave, we are working on them, and some were fulfilled. We will fulfil these ten before the next elections,” he said.
“The first guarantee is to beautify Delhi… make it clean and beautiful. The three landfills will be removed. I would like to promise the people of Delhi that no new landfill site will be made. We will bring global experts and in the way that they are disposing of waste, we will do too. The roads will be cleaned,” he said.
The second guarantee is for a corruption-free MCD. “The building department is particularly corrupt. The process to get building plans approved will be made easier. A scheme will be made to regularise small building violations after paying fees or penalty, so people don’t have to deal with blackmailing,” he said.
The third guarantee is a permanent solution to the problem of parking, and the fourth is dealing with the issue of stray animals — dogs, cows and monkeys. The fifth guarantee is to improve roads, the sixth to improve MCD schools and hospitals, the seventh is to improve parks and turn Delhi into a city of parks, and the eighth is to make temporary workers permanent and ensure salaries are given regularly. The ninth guarantee is to provide licenses to traders online and end “conversion fees” and parking fees, besides putting an end to “inspector raj”, in addition to creating a good atmosphere to do business. The tenth guarantee is to make vending zones for street vendors.
Kejriwal was flanked by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Environment Minister Gopal Rai when he made the announcements.
“People have been cheated for the past 15 years. What we say, we do. We don’t break these guarantees. Other parties bring out a vachan patra and don’t work on it for five years. Then they come out with a sankalp patra… the day the election results are announced these parties tear up their manifesto,” Kejriwal said.
He listed what he said were BJP’s unfulfilled promises in the MCD. “They said Kejriwal doesn’t give money to the MCD. They said we won’t ask Kejriwal for money, we’ll bring funds from the Centre. The central government has not given a single paisa to the MCD. We have given a lot of money to them,” he said.
“They said the roads will be improved. They have not improved a single road. They said Delhi will be free of garbage. The city is full of garbage. They said they will clear the three mountains of garbage. Now their leaders are saying there are mountains of garbage in other cities also. Where are these mountains in London, Paris, Tokyo, or New York? They said they’ll clean the markets, but they have not done that. They said they will end corruption, but they have admitted that their councillors are corrupt, but took no action,” Kejriwal said.
“Instead, they (the BJP) have done everything to stop the work of the Delhi government. They stopped yoga classes,” he added.
“I would like to appeal to the people of Delhi to vote for those who work, not stop it. Vote for those who make schools, not those who give gaalis and fight,” Kejriwal said.
“Is baar BJP ki 20 se kam seat aayenge (This time BJP will win less than 20 seats). The BJP is scared of AAP. To stop AAP, both elections are together…,” he said.