New Delhi: Delhi is in a state of “rot” despite the vast sums of money spent on it over the years and the capital has to be made “beautiful” and “secure”, AAP Urban Development Minister Manish Sisodia says.
On the Aam Aadmi Party’s one month in office, the de facto No.2 in the party admitted that the process of enacting the much promised Jan Lokpal bill to fight corruption could have been speeded up, but could not be done so far as they were not very familiar with the government system.
Sisodia, 42, said: “We need a beautiful Delhi, a clean Delhi as well as a secure Delhi,” he said. “Indeed, there has been a lot of developmental work in Delhi but they forgot cleanliness. We kept creating new things but forgot how to maintain them. Delhi is in a state of rot now.”
“There was no planned development in Delhi and a lot of money was spent though I agree there is a need to spend more money (on developmental projects),” said Sisodia.
Asked about the achievements of the AAP government, Sisodia said it “has done a good job” in just a month. However, he feels that the party could have “fast-tracked” the introduction of the Jan Lokpal bill, which would also cover the Delhi chief minister.
“There is always a scope for speeding up work like the Jan Lokpal bill. We could have introduced it earlier but we also did not know how to speed up the process,” Sisodia said.
The anti-corruption bill was one of the major election promises of the year-old AAP. Asked about the delay in revealing corruption said to have taken place in the holding of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Sisodia said: “I cannot tell you much... We are still studying the files.”
During the campaign, the AAP alleged gross irregularities in the mega games involving Congress leaders including the then chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Sisodia, who also holds the charge of key portfolio of education, says the need of the hour was to improve the content of education.
IANS
