Kejriwal sits on Rs 787-cr green fund, puts onus on Centre as Delhi chokes

The government said it spent Rs 93 lakh of the cess in 2016, but there was “no mention of any expenditure” in 2017.

Delhi Air Quality : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday blamed the Centre for blocking projects as an RTI query revealed that the Kejriwal government did not spend even a paisa out of the Rs 787 crore it collected as environment cess since January 1 this year.

As the capital city grappled with dangerously high pollution levels, the Right to Information (RTI) query on Wednesday found the Delhi government was unable to specify its utilisation of the Rs 787 crore green cess collected during 2017.

The government said it spent Rs 93 lakh of the cess in 2016, but there was “no mention of any expenditure” in 2017.

The AAP government came under attack from the opposition parties following the revelation.

Delhi Smog Congress chief Ajay Maken slammed the city government and said they could have bought new buses with this money and also augmented total parking capacity of the bus depots.

Lashing out at Kejriwal, Maken said: “Instead of using the money which is lying idle, he is busy aiming at other state governments and the Centre instead of doing his bit.”

Maken said Kejriwal could have purchased road vacuum cleaners, as the dust “is the single-biggest contributory factor for air pollution” in Delhi.

“When we were in power, the strength of the DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) was 5,445 buses, which has now gone down to 3,951 buses. There has been a shortfall of 1,500 buses in three years,” he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) instead blamed the central government for its failure to spend Rs 787 crore of environmental cess and accused it of blocking the projects to control pollution.

AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said they never said that the Delhi government had shortage of funds.

Click to Read → Delhi Green Funds

MCD Election Results 2017 LIVE: BJP wins, AAP routed, Congress makes surprise comeback in Delhi

Get live updates and latest news on Delhi MCD Election 2017  results along with photos, videos

MCD election result LIVE: The Delhi civic election result will be declared today. The counting of votes polled in 270 wards of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) began at 8 am. BJP is set to have a clear mandate.

 

The Congress party makes a surprise comeback and is at number 2 in the MCD South and MCD East, with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in last place. In the MCD North, where the BJP already has a big lead, AAP is a poor second. A win today will add to the BJP's list of victories in state and local elections across the country. For AAP, which swept assembly elections in Delhi two years ago, the Delhi civic elections are a fight to remain politically relevant after losing the Punjab and Goa elections last month

The counting of the votes will go on till late in the day. Security personnel belonging to Delhi Police, paramilitary forces and the Home Guards will keep watch at the counting centres.

 

CATCH ALL THE LIVE UPDATES ON MCD ELECTIONS 2017  LIVE BLOG

 

Exit polls predict sweep for BJP in Delhi

* India Today-Axis exit poll claimed the BJP may bag anything between 202 and 220 seats, while the AAP and the Congress will score something around 23-35 and 19-31 respectively.
 

* The CVoter-ABP exit poll claimed the BJP was likely to sweep Delhi with 218 seats, limiting the AAP and Congress to 24 and 22 seats respectively.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday warned of launching a "movement" if the MCD exit poll results, which have predicted a BJP sweep, come true.

"If such results come then it proves that manipulation has happened, like in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Pune, Mumbai, Bhind and Dholpur. We are the product of a movement. We are not here to enjoy the pleasures of power. We will return to movement," he said.

  

 

Be it Narendra Modi or journalists, why Arvind Kejriwal is always angry

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to twitter to hit out at veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta over the latter's tweet about the resurgence of Malaria and Chikungunya caused deaths in the capital.

Gupta had tweeted that Delhi was facing Malaria and Chikungunya caused deaths for the first time after five years, while the government in Delhi was more busy "conquering" Punjab, Goa and Gujarat — where Assembly polls are due. 

Taking exception to Gupta's tweet, Kejriwal asked him to step out in the open if he wanted to indulge in politics. Further, Kejriwal alleged that Gupta had worked for the Congress before and now he was trying to promote the Modi government's interests. 

 Not stopping there, Kejriwal alleged that people like Gupta had brought a bad name to journalism. The Delhi chief minister ended his response by asking Gupta to focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he said was out to "conquer" the world.

Return of a menace

Punjab troubles

Legal tangles

Setbacks in court

Kejriwal on Tuesday sought to pass the buck on the spread of vector-borne diseases in the city, saying that the Delhi government was "incapable of even buying a pen" as he and his Cabinet colleagues stand "fully stripped of read more..