New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) An old lake in east Delhi’s Shahdara was on Tuesday dedicated to the public following a major revamp and redevelopment, with a focus on cleaner environment, the area’s mayor, Shyam Sunder Aggarwal, said.
BJP MP from Northeast Delhi Manoj Tiwari and the party’s city unit chief Adesh Gupta inaugurated the rejuvenated lake and adjoining greens, spread over 32 acres, in the Welcome area, which falls under the jurisdiction of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Later in a statement, Gupta said the revamped jheel complex will be now called ‘Atal Jheel and Upvan’.
However, a senior EDMC official, when contacted, said, “It’s a very old ‘jheel’, and the project, executed under the central government’s AMRUT Yojana, was called ‘Shahdara Jheel complex’ rejuvenation project, and was today dedicated to the public with the same old name.” Mayor Aggrawal said the BJP chief, during the event on Tuesday, suggested that the “jheel should be named after Atal ji, after MP Manoj Tiwari asked him to come up with a good ‘name’ for it”.
“We will take his suggestion, and the area’s councillor will bring a proposal to the naming committee, of which I am also a member. And, once approved by the committee, it will go to the House then for final ratification,” he said.
The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) itself carries the name of the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“Revamping of the jheel at Welcome by the East Delhi Corporation under the Modi government’s AMRUT Yojana will boost environment conservation besides tourism and beautification of the area. Now this jheel will be called Atal jheel and Upvan. This programme will show a mirror to the Delhi government,” Gupta was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office.
Revamping of the water body by treating drain water that was entering into it will also lead to environment protection, mayor Aggarwal said.
“We have plans to set up a cafeteria and other recreational spaces, and it will attact both local people and tourists from outside Delhi. We also plan to do a laser show here in the future,” he added.
The inauguration of the complex comes ahead of the civic polls due in April this year.
Gupta also took a dig at the Kejriwal government, and said it is a “gift” from it that the pollution level of Yamuna river is “at its peak now”.
One does not know what the Kejriwal government did with the funds it got from the Centre for Yamuna cleaning, he alleged.
People are not getting pure water to drink, and Delhi is being converted into a liquor city under Kejriwal’s new excise policy, the Delhi BJP chief added.
Tiwari said it has always been the “intention of the Kejriwal government that corporations shouldn’t do anything”. He alleged that it has halted funds to the corporations.
Tiwari described the revamping of the Welcome jheel as a “dream being realised”. The corporation has done a great job despite its budget being stopped by the state government. But this work should have been done by the Kejriwal government, he argued.
The Shahdara Jheel, located near the Welcome metro station comes under the jurisdiction of the EDMC.
Mayor Aggarwal claimed Tiwari has also said that he will donate some funds for the jheel project from his MPLAD funds. PTI KND IJT
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
