Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar said that there was a strong odour of corruption in the hike in the Circle Rates of agricultural land by the Delhi Government, which will only benefit the builder lobby at the expense of poor farmers. He said that the Circle Rate hike was anti-poor as the powerful landowners will derive benefits from the rate hike, as the Circle Rate should be equal for all.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that while Rs 5 crore will be the rate per acre at Central District, Rs 2.25 crore will be the rate per acre at East District, which was very unequal. He said that when Congress revised the Circle Rate in 2008, the per acre rate was Rs 53 lakh for farm lands and Rs 17 lakh for acre for river plains, while the rate revision affected in 2005 put the land rates at Rs 17.40 lakh and Rs 5.70 lakh, respectively. He said that it was for the first time that there was vast difference in the Circle Rate of farm lands.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that Delhi Congress will strongly protest against this arbitrary Circle Rate hike of agricultural land, and will take up the issue with the Lt. Governor so that the benefit of the scheme reaches all categories of farmers.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch. Anil Kumar said that with the passage of the Delhi Services Bill in both the Houses of Parliament, the BJP Government at the Centre has snatched   the powers of the elected Government in Delhi, to run the Delhi Government by backseat driving through the Lt. Governor and the bureaucrats. He said that the people of Delhi had rejected the BJP, but the Modi Government, through the Delhi Services Bill, would immobilize the functioning of the elected Government as the Lt. Governor and the bureaucrats would henceforth call the shots in governance matters.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the BJP has been indulging in horse-trading to bring down elected Governments in many States by either buying MLAs or using probe agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI to threaten and force elected representatives to align with the BJP to topple Governments of other parties. He said that the BJP came to power using such methods in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States, and now the Delhi Services Bill will make the Delhi Government totally subservient to the Central Government.

Ch. Anil Kumar said that the Modi  Government had first usurped  the powers of the MCD by passing the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2022 to merge the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi by bringing down the number of wards to 250 in a bid to favour the BJP, and to take virtual control of the MCD, irrespective of whichever party comes to power, and despite the people rejecting the BJP in the MCD elections last year, the Modi Government still rules the roost in the MCD governance.

MANY PROFESSIONALS AND POLITICIANS JOIN DELHI CONGRESS

Many senior professionals and politicians joined Delhi Congress with DPCC president Ch. Anil Kumar offered them the party scarfs at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan, here today. Prominent them those were Smt. Anuradha Solanki, president Janta Dal United (Mahila Wing, Delhi) and General Secretary of Nitish Vichar Manch, Dr Neeraj Kulyana, Smt. Samapti Chakraborty, retired Government teacher and Congress supporter in social media and Smt. Meenakshi Kapoor, movie star.