Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar said that almost a week had elapsed since the monsoon deluge wreaked havoc in Delhi, yet people are still suffering due to the failures, inaction, inefficiency and incompetence of the Kejriwal Government, as many areas are still under water, roads blocked and those in relief camps staring at an uncertain future. He said that the threat of an epidemic now looms large as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seems least concerned about the plight of the people,  but only about feathering his political future.

Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan here today, Ch. Anil Kumar said that had the Delhi Government issued timely warning to the people, and had his Government taken advance steps to check the deluge, the Capital would not have witnessed such a terrible fate since July 11, when rain lashed Delhi. He said that Kejriwal had misled people on July 12, announcing at a press briefing that his Government had made full preparations, to meet the monsoon challenge. He said that people suffered extensive losses from Majnu Ka Tila to Badarpur, including traders, street vendors, businessmen and farmers, and they would not have suffered such a heavy loss, had they been given advance warning so that they could have removed their goods and belongings to safer places, when the rains lashed Delhi, and the silt and slush-filled Yamuna got inundated, to flood areas falling near the Yamuna banks, and beyond, including the Gandhi Samadhi.

Ch. Anil Kumar demanded that the Kejriwal Government constitute a High-level Committee to survey the extent of losses/damage suffered by the people and announce adequate cash compensation to the affected, as the Rs 10,000 compensation announced by the Kejriwal Government was too little, too late. He also demanded Rs 1 crore compensation paid to the families of those who succumbed in the deluge.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the deluge created many records due to the incompetence of CM Kejriwal, who once again ran away from his responsibility when faced with a challenge, as he had done during the North East Delhi riots in 2020, when he did not bother to visit the riot-affected people while Shri Rahul Gandhi reached there to console them. He said that Kejriwal also left the people of Delhi to their own fate when the Covid-19 pandemic played havoc in Delhi, as he kept himself ‘quarantined’ in Delhi, while the Congress workers came out on the streets to help people and provide them with relief material, including cooked meals and dry ration, medicines etc.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that Flood and Health Minister Saurav Bharadwaj had made blame games with the BJP, but has not spelt out any steps he would be taking to prevent an outbreak of an epidemic, and no wonder, he was facing the ire of the people wherever he goes. Others present at the Press Conference were former Delhi Minister Dr Narendra Nath, ex-MLAs Hari Shankar Gupta and Jaikishan, Chairman of the DPCC Communications Department Anil Bhardwaj, chairman of the Booth Management Committee Rajesh Garg, Communications Department Vice-chairmen Anuj Attrey and Vikram Lohia.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the flooding of Delhi had once again  exposed Kejriwal’s inability to meet a challenge head-on. He said that the under bridge road connecting  Yamuna Bazar area with  ISBT and Kashmere Gate  was choked with garbage, silt  and dead animals, and the Government authorities have made no effort to lift them, neither  from Usmanpur, Ghadi Mendu Village and Pushtha.

 Ch. Anil Kumar said that the fact that the Army had to be called in for the rescue and repair operations only exposed the neglect and inefficiency of the Kejriwal Government, despite having all the resources at his command. He said that the CM and his Ministers were only visible in newspapers, and not at the ground level in the rescue operations, to lead from the front. He said that the posh Civil Lines area, where Kejriwal’s ‘mahal’ is located, got submerged in the inundated Yamuna waters, forcing people to shift out, leaving behind all their possessions, or stay back without power, water and other essentials. He said that the vital ITO stretch has been under water for the past seven days, and the Kejriwal Government has failed in draining out the water, despite his tall proclamations before the rains.