The lieutenant governor's criticism came after he visited Sangam Vihar, Kirari and Burari areas on Monday.
Credit: X/@LtGovDelhi
New Delhi: After Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena slammed the city government for depriving the people of basic public facilities, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday hit back and said the former is "playing the role of the opposition" despite holding a constitutional post.
The lieutenant governor's criticism came after he visited Sangam Vihar, Kirari and Burari areas on Monday.
"Went to Sangam Vihar on Monday on the request of the local residents. Despite nine years of hardships, more than 20 lakh people living in the area are forced to live a life where they are deprived of basic public facilities. There are no roads, no sewers, no garbage disposal," Saxena said in a post on X in Hindi.
Attaching some pictures to his post, Saxena said there are randomly hanging electrical wires that are dangerous, adding that a rickshaw overturned in front of him and injured a woman.
"The country cannot imagine that overflowing drains, heaps of garbage and streets filled with stinking sewer water will be in the capital of India. All the concerned departments are completely under the Delhi government and the MCD is also under you. The chief minister is requested to pay attention to the problems," he wrote on another post on X.
Responding to the LG, Kejriwal said he has ordered the chief secretary to remove the shortcomings in all areas mentioned by him within the next seven days.
"I am ordering the chief secretary to remove all these shortcomings within seven days. The work you are doing should have been done by the opposition. It is the job of the opposition to point out the shortcomings of the ruling party," Kejriwal posted on X.
"Unfortunately, today all the seven MPs of the opposition (BJP) are busy retiring from politics and the eight MLAs are fast asleep. This is the reason why power in Delhi has been away from BJP for the last 26 years," he wrote.
Kejriwal alleged that "despite holding a constitutional post", the LG is "forced to play the role of the opposition".
He said "services" and "vigilance" come under the jurisdiction of the LG and added that the senior officers of the department "should be suspended".
"If it was under me, I would not only immediately suspend such careless officers but would also take such action against them that no other officer would dare to commit such a careless act.
"I hope that you will immediately suspend the most senior officers of these departments and give them exemplary punishment. 2 crore Delhiites will wait for your action," Kejriwal wrote.
North East Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari took a dig at Kejriwal saying he seemed to have come out of his slumber of nine years after LG showed the condition of roads and sewers in the city.
Tiwari asked the Delhi chief minister to visit areas in his constituency to see the pathetic situation of roads, sewer and waterlogging being faced by people.
The BJP MP said he will show the poor condition of civic facilities in the city if the chief minister himself does not go for an inspection within 24 hours.