New Delhi: In a fresh attack on the Delhi government, the BJP on Tuesday alleged that ‘sharab’ (liquor policy) and ‘shiksha’ (education) “scams” had become the “twin towers of corruption” in the city and the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation was gradually building more floors.
The BJP leaders also alleged that the Delhi government escalated the cost of building classrooms by multiple times and projected several school toilets as classrooms to justify the “bloated” bills.
During a press conference, Shahzad Poonawalla claimed that the AAP government was following a ‘reverse Robinhood’ model wherein money meant for the poor was taken away to fill the coffers of the liquor mafia.
People had asked for ‘pathshala’ (schools), but the AAP government gave them ‘madhushala’ (liquors shops), he said, adding, these had become the “twin towers” of corruption in the capital, and Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia its “builders”, a likely reference to the two large illegal buildings that were demolished in Noida a couple of days ago.
Not sure about Bharat Ratna, but he will get a ‘Bhrashtachar Ratna’, the BJP leader mocked about Sisodia.
He reiterated 15 questions that the BJP has posed to Kejriwal on the alleged liquor scam and asked him “not to divert and deflect, but answer them”. Citing the questions posed earlier by various BJP spokespersons, he sought to know why the excise policy was reversed if there was no corruption.
Poonawala said a retail liquor seller used to earn “merely Rs 33 per bottle” under the old excise policy but he earned “a whopping Rs 363 per bottle on a 750 ml bottle of liquor” under the policy introduced by the AAP government.
He asked the AAP to not change the goalpost but answer the specific questions which have not been addressed for the last 38 days.
“‘Bhrashtachar’ (corruption) has become their ‘adhikar’ (right), and when an inquiry is done, they cry ‘attyachaar, attyachaar’ (cry foul), and resort to drama and ‘durachaar’ (ill-behaviour) in the assembly,” he alleged.
MP Manoj Tiwari cited the incident in which a government school student in outer Delhi’s Nangloi was injured after a ceiling fan in her classroom fell on her head.
“Semi-permanent structures” were used in many government schools and that is why fans were falling off the ceilings, he said.
“So far, AAP’s morality was falling, and now ceiling fans in their schools are also falling,” Tiwari said, mocking the Kejriwal government.
The girl student has been admitted to a private hospital in Nangloi and is undergoing treatment.
Tiwari also flashed a report claiming that cost of construction of classrooms in many schools was heavily bloated, and even toilets were “counted and projected as classrooms” to justify the cost escalation.
In response to the BJP leaders’ statements, Kejriwal in a Hindi tweet, said, “The BJP’s accusation is why we built so many schools, so many classrooms and gave so many conveniences in each class? Because we want to give the best of education to each and every child of the country. The schools under BJP-run MCD are in bad shape. We will improve them after winning (civic polls).”
The BJP on Monday had alleged there was a scam in the Delhi education department, saying the city government increased the budget for the construction of classrooms in its existing schools, ignoring the Central Public Works Department’s guidelines.
Citing a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report sent to the Delhi government’s vigilance department in 2020, the saffron party had said the city government hiked the construction cost by Rs 326 crore, 53 percent more than the original tender amount, without floating a new tender.
