New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Tuesday launched a special cleanliness drive in the city that will be carried out jointly by multiple agencies, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia gave the event a miss.
Kejriwal, however, in a tweet appealed to all the MPs, MLAs and the masses to enthusiastically take part in the drive.
“We have to together make our Delhi clean,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
According to a senior civic official, “The Lt Governor launched the drive with a symbolic sweep of a broom at an event held at Batra Cinema Complex at Mukherjee Nagar area in northwest Delhi.” “In his address, the LG emphasised that sanitation workers may be considered at a lower position in the social strata, but they do work of immense value in keeping our cities clean, and that elevates their position in society,” the official said.
The absence of Kejriwal and Sisodia comes in the wake of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on June 4 accusing Saxena of “interfering” in the Delhi government’s work and “conspiring” to derail democracy.
The allegation had come a day after Kejriwal met Saxena and announced that he would meet him every Friday for “better coordination” to address the city’s issues.
AAP leader and MLA Atishi had recently said that Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench has clearly stated that the LG only has power over land, law and order and police, while everything else is under the elected government.
After launching the drive, Saxena lamented about Delhi’s image being marred by heaps of garbage, pollution, overflowing sewer lines and a dying Yamuna, and appealed to all to come forward and “reclaim its pride of place among the international capitals”.
Besides Kejriwal and Sisodia, AAP MLA Dilip Pandey also gave the event a miss. All three leaders were slated to be present on the occasion.
While a senior Delhi government official, when contacted did not specify the reason for their absence, the Raj Niwas in a statement said, “The chief minister and the deputy chief minister who were supposed to attend the programme, could not be present due to some reasons”.
BJP leader and North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari also took part in the event, officials said.
Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Special Officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Ashwini Kumar, Municipal Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti and other senior officials were present on the occasion, they said.
This special drive, which involves MCD, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Development Authority, Public Works Department, Delhi Cantonment Board and the National Highways Authority of India will be held as ‘Jan Abhiyan’ involving the public, MCD officials said.
“In a decisive step forward, emanating out of the Lt Governor’s initiatives and stress on cleanliness and sanitation ever since he took charge, an intensive joint special cleanliness drive was launched today,” the Raj Niwas said in the statement.
The programme is being carried out in all zones of the MCD with active participation of the people, local MLAs and area MPs, it said.
“The drive is to be carried out for a fortnight in a “mission-mode, where all concerned civic agencies will work in tandem for the first time, in this one of its kind cleanliness drive, aimed at providing a decisive push to remove garbage, construction and demolition waste, inert material and plastic accumulated on roads, central verges, footpaths, lanes, bylanes, parks and neighbourhoods, over a period of time,” the statement said.
Reaching out to the sanitation workers, the LG underlined that “though sanitation workers were placed the lowest, he considered them to be the most important pillars in the departmental hierarchy.” “It is the Safai Karamcharis who keep a city clean, sanitised, healthy and liveable and the role played by them in making any city a favoured destination, was supreme to that of anybody else,” he said.
Appealing to them for their proactive participation in the regular upkeep of the city, Saxena said he was aware of their concerns and grievances and promised that he will address them at the earliest.
He assured them that as their “local guardian, he would do everything possible to provide them with an enabling and empowering work atmosphere”.
Saxena also stressed on people’s participation in the drive and underlined that while this special drive was aimed at providing much-needed jump start to city’s effort in cleaning itself, he would “ensure that it becomes a regular on-going exercise”. Invoking Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi, Saxena said their insistence on personal efforts towards cleanliness and sanitation lay at the foundation of a clean neighbourhood, city and the country.
The LG expressed hope that the residents of Delhi will come forward to act towards achieving the goal of a clean city in full cooperation with the civic agencies and contribute to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s passionate project of ‘Swachh Bharat’.
The LG reiterated that each and every citizen will have to come forward and claim the city as his or her own, and help it develop into a place they would be proud residents of.
Meanwhile, following the appeal from Kejriwal, many AAP MLAs took to streets to take part in the drive. Delhi cabinet minister and Ballimaran MLA Imran Hussain participated in the drive in his assembly constituency.
The minister also directed officials to maintain cleanliness and not let garbage pile up on corners of the road, according to a statement issued by his office.
Kalkaji MLA Atishi shared pictures on Twitter, saying she took part in an event to clean Kalkaji Market. PTI KND RHL
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
