NEW DELHI: Delhi water minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Sunday alleged that LG VK Saxena was claiming credit for the work done by AAP government to clean the Yamuna.
He claimed that the LG was not allowed to spend even a single rupee that belonged to Delhi government as the Constitution didn't give him that power and only the elected government could allot money from the budget.
However, LG VK Saxena, who inspected the supplementary drain in Wazirabad earlier in the day, said, "If any minister of our government wants to take credit for the work, I don't have any objection. We are not working here for credit, but to provide a clean Yamuna to the people. Even the Supreme Court monitored Yamuna for 28 years. I don't want to comment on politics, but want everyone to work together and keep the Yamuna clean."
Addressing a press conference, Bharadwaj said to clean the Yamuna, the drains that were falling into it, such as those in Najafgarh and Shahdara and the supplementary drain, would need to be cleaned first. "This initiative of Delhi government began in 2017. Initially, we treated Ghoga drain, after which a central government official issued a letter recommending other states to learn from Delhi. This letter from CPHO department, which comes under Union minister Hardeep Puri, is proof of the good work of Delhi government," he said.
Bharadwaj said Rajokri drain was treated in 2017, and for this work, Delhi government received an award from the Centre. He added that in 2019, a pilot project was carried out on Shahdara drain and its success was lauded by everyone.
He slammed the LG for walking near those drains now and trying to take credit for the work of Delhi government.
Bharadwaj claimed the technology that the LG demonstrated during his visit to the supplementary drain on Sunday was implemented in 2021. "Aerators have been installed there to increase the amount of oxygen in the water. Floating wetlands have been created to clean the water," he said. He showed a tweet from the then minister, Satyendar Jain's Twitter handle, and said, "This tweet, in which Jain can be seen explaining the same technology, is from 2021."
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the people were grateful to the LG for ensuring that Yamuna was being cleaned in a timely manner and the riverfront was being beautified. He claimed that it was regrettable that in the past eight years, Arvind Kejriwal government had limited the work of Yamuna cleaning to announcements.