Cong, BJP slam Kejriwal govt for waterlogging in Delhi; ruling AAP blames civic bodies

The opposition parties hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and held it responsible for the situation. The AAP, however, attempted to shift the blame to BJP-ruled civic bodies by claiming that the municipal corporations are responsible for cleaning 98 per cent of drains and they have not done their job despite funds being sanctioned for it.

The ruling AAP and the Opposition BJP and Congress indulged in a blame game over waterlogging in various places of Delhi following the city's heaviest spell of rains this season on Thursday which threw traffic out of gear. The opposition parties hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and held it responsible for the situation.

The AAP, however, attempted to shift the blame to BJP-ruled civic bodies by claiming that the municipal corporations are responsible for cleaning 98 per cent of drains and they have not done their job despite funds being sanctioned for it. Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta tweeted a video purportedly showing some men crossing a waterlogged underpass in Tughlaqabad on a bullock cart.

Along with the video clip, he tweeted, "Due to waterlogging Tughalaqabad people are resorting to riding a bullock cart. Delhi is jammed and the AAP government is responsible for it. Delhi is suffering due to failed policies of the Arvind Kejriwal government." Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar too tweeted the same video and rhetorically asked the chief minister who will be held responsible for it. "Delhi, our Delhi. Just thinking who will Kejriwalji hold responsible for it. Will Nehru again have to go to witness box? One thing is sure, Kejriwal ji will not work," Kumar tweeted in Hindi.

Gupta said that the Kejriwal government's claim of having spent Rs 100 crore on cleaning of drains has been washed away in the rain water. "Even after getting the Drainage Master Plan approved, the Delhi government has not implemented it so far, due to which Delhi gets waterlogged with even little rain," he claimed.

MP and former Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari also alleged that the Delhi government has "failed" to tackle the waterlogging problem in the national capital. Tweeting a list purportedly detailing the jurisdiction of different agencies on desilting of drains, Tiwari said, "The data shows that out of 3,737 km drainage network in the city, 2,588 km is with Delhi government." "Also roads more than 60 feet are with AAP government where most waterlogging cases were reported even today," he wrote on the microblogging site.

However, AAP Political Affairs Committee member Durgesh Pathak said, "It has become a habit of the BJP and Congress to blame the Kejriwal government for everything." "BJP-ruled MCD has the responsibility of cleaning 98 per cent of the drains. Then why have they not done it despite sanctioning of all required funds by us? My only advice to them is that if they are not able to handle MCD, they should give it to us. We will do it in the same budget in a much better way," he said. AAP MLA Dilip Pandey said the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act 1957 section 32 clearly states that cleaning of any drain in Delhi is the responsibility of the municipal corporations.

"We all know how corrupt the municipal corporations of Delhi under the Bharatiya Janata Party are. If you want to find out the work done by the BJP-led MCDs, you should look into the flooded drains of Delhi. It is very clear that the BJP-led MCDs have not cleaned a single drain," Pandey told reporters at a press conference. "It is not that there is no allocation for desilting of drains or the system of desilting does not exist in Delhi. There is also a separate budget for this work, but the BJP uses this money for their corruption and does not clean the drains," he said.