Eye on elections, Upadhyay pushes MCDs to fight graft

The Delhi BJP may be gearing up for Assembly elections but its leaders seem wary of rival parties raking up the issue of alleged corruption in the three party-ruled civic agencies during the campaign.

In an apparent clean-up act, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay held a meeting with leaders of the civic agencies and asked them to give blueprints for increasing transparency and checking scope for graft.

Upadhyay set a 10-day deadline for the party leaders to present their vision documents with the objective of making the municipal corporations corruption-free and transparent.
“We have to observe zero tolerance towards negligence and corruption in sanitation work,” Upadhyay said, according to a statement.  

He also identified the licensing and building departments as the two focus areas where a serious review should be done to check alleged corruption.

The meeting seemed to an attempt to blunt the Aam Aadmi Party’s frequent allegation of large-scale corruption in the BJP-ruled civic agencies, a charge denied by the BJP leaders.

The AAP had also slammed the BJP over alleged corruption after the recent incidents of house collapses under the North Corporation.

Upadhyay, who himself is the chairman of the standing committee of the South Corporation, met all the three mayors of municipal corporations – Yogendra Chandolia,  Khushi Ram and Meenakshi.

Also present were the three leaders of House – Subhash Arya, Meera Aggarwal and Ram Narayan Dubey.

Two chairmen of standing committees Mohan Bhardwaj and B B Tyagi also took part in the deliberations, aimed at showcasing the BJP-led civic agencies’ performance for wooing voters.

Upadhyay directed the municipal leaders that they should conduct surprise visits and involve the area Residents’ Welfare Associations in the task.

He told the mayors that the vision documents should reflect the preparations of the health, education and horticulture committees so that the people are provided better services.

Pradesh President further told that we shall have to eradicate corruption with the help of complete transparency in the licensing and building departments.

The saffron party’s big steps towards getting election-ready also became visible from Northwest Delhi MP Udit Raj’s meeting with 40 BJP councillors from his constituency and officials.

During the meeting in Rohini, the MP was told by the councillors that main issues in the area included issues related to water, law and order, development in jhuggi jhopri colonies, transportation, women security and delays due to official insensitivity.

On Sunday, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi held a meeting with RWAs in Gole Market area, indicating that the BJP might involve its parliamentarians from the city in a bigger role if fresh Assembly polls are held.