BJP MLAs demanding discussion on 'irregularities' in DJB forcibly removed from Delhi Assembly

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP legislators demanded a discussion on alleged irregularities in the DJB.Speaker Ram Niwas Goel rejected the opposition members request and asked them to sit down.As the BJP MLAs continued to press their demand, Goel asked the marshals to escort them out of the House.Subsequently, the eight BJP MLAs held a protest near Mahatma Gandhis statue inside the Assembly premises.Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said his party has been maintaining for a long time that the DJB scam is bigger than the liquor scam in Delhi.

BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly on Monday as they protested in the House pressing for a discussion on alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The proceedings of the House began with the members raising issues concerning their constituencies. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators demanded a discussion on alleged irregularities in the DJB.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel rejected the opposition members' request and asked them to sit down.

As the BJP MLAs continued to press their demand, Goel asked the marshals to escort them out of the House.

Subsequently, the eight BJP MLAs held a protest near Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the Assembly premises.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said his party has been maintaining for a long time that the DJB ''scam'' is bigger than the liquor ''scam'' in Delhi. He accused the leaders of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of trying to evade questions in this regard.

The Delhi government's finance department has informed the Supreme Court that in the last nine years, there has been no account for an amount of Rs 28,400 crore, Sachdeva claimed.

On one hand, Delhi's Water Minister Atishi says they are not being given any money, while on the other, an audit of the DJB's accounts has not been carried out since 2016-17, the BJP leader claimed.

''Atishi should understand that it is illegal to give money to any government department indefinitely without an audit and that is why there is a scam in the Jal Board today,'' he alleged.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said according to the AAP government's own report, the DJB has incurred a loss of Rs 73,000 crore and no one can account for the Rs 28,400 crore.

The money given to the DJB was spent for other purposes and a loss of crores of rupees was incurred, Bidhuri alleged, adding that such an important issue should be discussed because people are frustrated and troubled.

There was no immediate reaction to the allegations from the AAP.

In a statement, the DJB accused the BJP of spreading a new rumour on the Jal Board ''scam''. This will continue for two years and then nothing will come out, it said. The AAP demands that the LG should direct officials to release the pending funds of the DJB with immediate effect, the statement added.