AAP slams Delhi Municipal Corporation, calls Swachch Bharat photo op for VIPs

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday slammed the Municipal Corporations of Delhi for “unclean and unhygienic conditions in the national capital” and termed Swachch Bharat exercise as “a photo opportunity for the VIPs”.

After the campaign, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 October, AAP has been sending photos of garbage sites across the national capital to mayors of three municipal corporations, ruled by the BJP.

The party also launched its own cleanliness drive in a bid to counter Modi’s Swachch Bharat campaign.

AAP and BJP have been at loggerheads over the issue and the saffron party, in response to AAP’s actions, also sent photographs of unclean places in New Delhi constituency to Arvind Kejriwal, which he represents in the assembly.

“Response of BJP-ruled three Municipal Corporations of Delhi has been extremely disappointing. Initial superficial openness displayed by the MCD has turned into indifference, exposing incompetence in even performing basic duties.

“The AAP is of the opinion that in less than three weeks since the campaign was launched with fanfare, its monitoring has revealed that the entire exercise was merely aimed at VIP photo opportunities,” a party spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the party has appealed to the people to spread awareness for celebrating a noise-free Diwali.

“Apart from harmful effects of crackers on health, these are a major source of air and sound pollution. Given the present sorry plight of MCD, cleaning the garbage left behind by crackers burst on the festival night would also be a major challenge,” the spokesperson added.

PTI