New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday released a report, listing out the alleged corruptions under the BJP rule. Dubbing the MCD as the “Most Corrupt Department”, the report highlights instances of alleged graft in the civic agencies.
After taking reigns from the Congress, the BJP has ruled the municipal corporations for 10 consecutive years. Addressing a press conference, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia accused the BJP functionaries of the corporations of “diverting” funds meant for various schemes and projects and of “looting” the public exchequer.
The booklet, which is a compilation of newspaper reports on corruption in the municipal bodies, has been “released in public interest”, Mr Sisodia said. “Where has the money gone? The BJP talks of Digital India, but the websites of the corporations have been under construction for 13 years and Rs 12 crore has already been spent,” he said.
In its poll campaign, the AAP is laying a major thrust on a series of alleged acts of graft in the MCDs reported over the last one decade, a period during which the BJP has been in control of all the three civic bodies. After unsuccessfully seeking deferral of civic elections in Delhi, the AAP is likely to release its manifesto soon. The party has planned big soaps for safai karamcharis (or sanitation workers), adequate toilet complexes across the city and more powers for ward-level committees in its manifesto for the upcoming municipal polls. The manifesto will be released in a day or two, according to senior party leaders.
They said that the manifesto will include demands including the one on regularisation of safai karamcharis working on contract basis. Other SOPs include timely payment of salaries, better medical covers and protective gears among others.
Salary delays and arrears have led to repeated strikes by the sanitation workers over the past two years.
As part of the election manifesto, the party is likely to propose the construction of public toilet complexes. During his rallies ahead of the civic polls, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has hit out at the BJP-ruled corporations for not meeting the target of building 30,107 community toilets.
