AAP alleges 48 MCD schools shut, converted into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs; BJP refutes

Arogya Mandirs have been built only on those vacant buildings or plots that we already had, Verma said in a statement.He also accused the previous AAP government of creating photo-op healthcare infrastructure through Mohalla Clinics.We did not mock the people of Delhi the way you AAP did with Mohalla Clinics.

The AAP on Thursday alleged that 48 municipal schools in Delhi had been shut and converted into Ayushman Arogya Mandir, a charge the BJP-led civic body strongly refuted, saying only vacant plots, unsafe buildings or underutilised sites were being repurposed for healthcare facilities.

The row erupted after AAP leader and leader of opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Ankush Narang, alleged that the BJP government shut 48 MCD schools and handed over the premises for Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in violation of the Delhi High Court's directions governing educational land use.

Addressing a press conference at the Civic Centre, Narang claimed that the MCD education department had issued no-objection certificates for converting school properties into health centres, instead of strengthening the primary education infrastructure.

''People expected the BJP government to improve the condition of MCD schools, but instead, schools are being shut and converted into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs,'' he alleged.

According to an MCD education department order dated February 2, 2026, several of its sites were identified for ''upgradation into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs''.

The listed properties included the old MCD primary school building at Molarband Extension in Central Zone, Puth Khurd Girls School, Nangal Thakran Boys School and the MCPS Sultanpur Dabas in the Narela Zone.

The order said that the sites were being provided ''only for the use of Ayushman Arogya Mandir'', with approval from the MCD commissioner.

Narang claimed that the Directorate of Education violated court orders stipulating that land earmarked for educational purposes should not be diverted for non-educational use.

He alleged that several schools were also being merged to vacate additional buildings for similar conversions in the future.

''For now, these are 48 schools, but preparations are underway to merge several more MCD schools. Once the buildings become vacant, they too will be converted into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs,'' he claimed.

The BJP, however, trashed the allegations as ''misleading'' and accused the AAP of politicising education and healthcare.

MCD education committee chairperson Yogesh Verma said many of the sites cited by the AAP were either lying vacant for years, housed dilapidated structures declared unsafe, or were very small campuses whose students had already been shifted to larger nearby school buildings.

''Education and health are complementary to each other. Arogya Mandirs have been built only on those vacant buildings or plots that we already had,'' Verma said in a statement.

He also accused the previous AAP government of creating ''photo-op'' healthcare infrastructure through Mohalla Clinics.

''We did not mock the people of Delhi the way you (AAP) did with Mohalla Clinics. Today, if Arogya Mandirs are being built, it is because the government wants to provide better healthcare facilities to the people,'' Verma said.